Sunanda Pushkar death case: Congress flays charges against Tharoor; updates

Over four years after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a hotel suite in the nationl apital, Delhi Police on Monday filed a chargesheet in a court in Sunanda Pushkar's suicide case.

In the chargesheet, Delhi Police has accused Tharoor of abetting Pushkar's suicide, a charge he dubbed "preposterous" and his party called "baseless".

The Congress leader has been charged under Sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 498A (subjecting a woman to cruelty by her husband or his relative) of the Indian Penal Code, which entails a jail term that could extend up to 10 years.

The chargesheet was filed in the case on the basis of medico-legal and forensic evidence analysed during the investigation, as well as the opinion of experts regarding Pushkar's death, Delhi Police Chief Spokesperson Deependra Pathak said.

The Congress, however, said that there "could be no more falsehood about this charge except that a conspiratorial BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were seeking revenge against Tharoor by using the Delhi Police which, he said, was a willing tool to subserve BJP's political agenda".