New Delhi: The session court of Delhi has discharged Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP, Shashi Tharoor, in the death case of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. 

Special judge Geetanjali Goel has discharged Mr. Tharoor in the case, following prosecution has failed to prove charges against him. Court has found that there is no substantiate material is available to frame charge on Shashi Tharoor under sections 306 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code and alternatively for murder under Section 302. 

Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of the then UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in a luxury hotel in New Delhi on January 17, 2014. The preliminary probe indicated that Pushkar had committed suicide, but later reports revealed that the cause of her death was unnatural. 

It is a big relief to Mr. Shashi Tharoor. Police have failed to arrive conclusion on any clarity about the death of Sunanda Pushkar. Police have alleged that accused has tampered with the evidence in the case. 

The prosecution has taken several adjournments in the case, meanwhile, the court has allowed Delhi Police to submit additional documents related to the case. After careful consideration of the case and going into additional documents, the special judge Geetanjali Goel came to the conclusion that there is no merit in the case to frame charges against the accused. 

The case 

Delhi police have registered an FIR was filed in the case in 2015, and in 2018, Tharoor was charged with abetment to suicide and marital cruelty under sections 306 and 498A of IPC. 

In March this year, Shashi Tharoor had submitted before the court that the family and friends of his wife have maintained that she couldn’t have died by suicide. 

Tharoor’s counsel claimed that there could not be abetment when she didn’t die of suicide and had sought discharge in the case. There is no admissible evidence against him and the theory of injecting poison, he contended. 

The autopsy report revealed that Pushkar was under drug overdose at the time of her death -- "most likely a combination of sedatives, other strong medicines, and probably alcohol."

However, the prosecution has argued that Sunanda Pushkar had undergone mental cruelty, resulting in her bad health. It was also argued that the death was not accidental, according to the post-mortem report. The prosecutor stressed that Pushkar's death could have been a result of oral or injected poisoning. Mr. Tharoor has thanked the court for discharging him the case