NEW DELHI, Jan 7 � A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has begun its probe into the mysterious death of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor�s wife Sunanda Pushkar even as Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi today said there are prima facie reasons to believe it is a case of murder, reports PTI.
Bassi said the SIT has finalised an �action plan� to investigate the case and did not rule out questioning Tharoor soon, saying �whatever necessary will be done� to solve the case.
�When we file a case under Section 302 of the IPC, it means we have prima facie reasons to believe that it is a case of murder,� Bassi told reporters on being asked whether the police have any evidence that it was a case of murder.
Asked why the murder case was registered almost a year after Sunanda�s death, Bassi said the final medical report from the AIIMS warranted filing of the FIR so that Sunanda�s viscera samples can be sent abroad for further tests.
�We have formed a SIT to probe the case. The SIT has formed an action plan to go about the case and everything will be done as per it,� he said.
The investigators have decided to send her viscera samples to a laboratory either in Britain or the US to identify the poison, including whether it could be radioactive isotopes that cannot be detected in Indian labs.
Sources said the SIT is likely to question Tharoor, his relatives and personal staff along with the employees of the five-star hotel where she was found dead on January 17 last year.
A senior official said a Delhi Police team had visited a hospital at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala on December 2 last year where Sunanda was admitted days before she was found dead.
Tharoor alleges police assault: In yet another twist in his wife�s death, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has accused Delhi Police of �assaulting� and �intimidating� his domestic help into �confessing� that they both killed Sunanda Pushkar as police said it believes prima facie it is a case of murder.
A Special Investigation Team has been constituted to probe Sunanda�s death, said Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi to whom Tharoor had written a letter on November 12 last year alleging police pressure on his domestic help Narayan Singh.
In the letter, the former Union Minister had complained of �unacceptable and illegal� conduct by one of its officers who �repeatedly physically assaulted� his domestic help Singh to force him to confess that they both murdered her.
Tharoor said he and his staff had �cooperated fully� with the police probing the case.
�I was therefore shocked and appalled to learn that in the course of the 16-hour interrogation conducted by four Delhi Police officers on Friday (7/11/14) and again during the 14- hour interrogation on Saturday (8/11/14), my domestic helper Narayan Singh was repeatedly physically assaulted by one of your officers.
�Worse, the officer used the traumatic physical assault to try and intimidate Narayan into �confessing� that he and I murdered my wife,� Tharoor said in the letter.
Tharoor also referred to his telephonic conversation with Bassi on November 8 when he had expressed his concerns about the alleged police action.
�As you graciously agreed, such conduct is completely unacceptable and illegal. It also amounts to the use of physical coercion in the attempt to frame an innocent man. I would request you to take immediate and appropriate action against such unlawful misconduct of the officer concerned,� he said.
