NEW DELHI, May 28 - Sunanda Pushkar�s email to her husband Shashi Tharoor nine days before she was found dead that she had no desire to live and all she prayed for is �death� should be treated as a �dying declaration�, the Delhi police told the court today.
As the court reserved for June 5 its order on whether to summon Tharoor, a senior Congress leader, as an accused in the case, the police also said Sunanda�s death was due to poisoning and that 27 tablets of Alprax were found in her room but it was not clear how many pills she had consumed.
Pushkar was found dead in the suite of a luxury hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.
While quoting from the charge sheet, the Delhi Police told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that Sunanda had injuries on her body which were received prior to her death which is reflected in the post-mortem report.
In an e-mail sent to Tharoor on January 8, 2014, she had written, �I don�t care about the test. I have no desire to live... All I pray for is death,� the police claimed but did not elaborate.
Sunanda�s mail and messages on social media should be taken as a �dying declaration�, the police told the court.
Referring to Section 113A of the Indian Evidence Act, Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava said, �It is presumed that if she has committed suicide, she must have been subjected to cruelty before death. Court may take cognisance of this fact that it is a case of abetment, as the death has taken place within seven years of the marriage, and under the law, a case of abetment is made out.�
Under Section 113A of the Act, a court �may presume, having regard to all the other circumstances of the case, that ... Suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative of her husband� if she kills herself within seven years from the date of her marriage. � PTI
