NEW DELHI: The Delhi police questioned Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar in February this year in connection with the murder of Sunda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Joint Commissioner of Police R P Upadhyay on Monday confirmed the news.
Sources said the members of the Special Investigating Team asked Mehr about the allegations made by Pushkar prior to her death that the journalist was romantically involved with Tharoor. Mehr, however, denied having a romantic liaison with him.
Tarar’s alleged friendship with Tharoor had led to a row between him and Pushkar, who was found dead in a luxury hotel in Delhi on January 17, 2014, under mysterious circumstances. Incidentally, Pushkar’s death took place a day after she was involved in a spat with Tarar on Twitter over the latter’s alleged affair with Tharoor. Tarar first wrote an email to the then police commissioner B S Bassi, saying she was willing to join the probe. When she came to Delhi in February, Mehr was questioned by a team headed by DCP Premnath in a five star hotel. The AIIMS autopsy report had initially suggested poisoning but the viscera analysis by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad, ruled out this. The lab was then asked to do a second analysis, which confirmed poisoning.