IANS/New Delhi
Police yesterday questioned former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh as part of their probe into the murder of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Amar Singh told reporters he was questioned by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the Delhi police for about two hours at south Delhi’s Vasant Vihar police station.
“When the SIT team came to know that Sunanda had talked to me a few days before her death, they asked me to tell them the sequence of my talk with her,” he said.
After the Pushkar’s death, Amar Singh had told reporters that she was a brave woman and could not commit suicide.
“If someone has murdered Sunanda, he should be caught,” he said.
“I am not against Shashi Tharoor. Tharoor and Sunanda both were affectionate to me. I just want the truth to come out,” he said.
“Sunanda was my best friend. I have told the police what I knew about her,” he said, adding he did not want to disclose his police questioning in public.
Sources said the SIT questioned Amar Singh over several points related to Pushkar and asked him about the Indian Premiere League angle as well.
Amar Singh had recently told reporters that Pushkar was depressed over the IPL fiasco, the led to the removal of the Kerala franchise in which she had considerable sweat equity. He added that Pushkar broke down and she wanted to reveal information about the IPL controversy to him.
Two journalists - Nalini Singh and Rahul Kanwal - have already deposed before the SIT and acknowledged that Pushakr did call them before her death and spoke to them about exposing Tharoor and the IPL fiasco.
Police had questioned Kanwal and Nalini Singh on January 22 and 23 respectively.
The police are investigating the IPL angle and the ownership pattern of Kochi Tuskers and want to find out if Pushkar was the front for Tharoor when she received Rs750mn equity from a franchisee involved in the Kochi team.
The IPL controversy had broken out in early 2010 when Tharoor was the minister of state for external affairs in the Congress government.
The investigators asked Amar Singh whether the IPL controversy had anything to do with Pushkar’s death.
Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said: “Amar Singh had claimed that he had some inputs related to the case. He had also revealed some point in the media. He was called for questioning today...”
He said the police will again for question Tharoor.
Tharoor was questioned for three-and-a-half hours on January 19. Police officials had then refused to share Tharoor’s replies, saying any revelation would hamper the investigation.
The SIT has already questioned various domestic helps of Pushkar, her close friends and other people. Pushkar’s son Shiv Menon may also be called for questioning.
In a related development, the Delhi High Court refused to hear a plea seeking its immediate intervention in the investigation.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL), filed by NGO Anti Corruption Front, said as the CBI was biased in probing the case, there was no positive and constructive development in the case.
In such a situation, there was cause and reason for the interference of the court into the investigation.
Filing the plea through advocates Deepak Prakash and Subhas Chandra, the NGO said the police had registered the case almost a year after the incident. It added that Pushkar died under mysterious circumstance, her body carried more than 10 injury marks and the reason for the death was mentioned as poisoning.
“Even the investigating agency found it was a clear case of murder but till date it is in dark. Even a long one year passed after the incident occurred in a five star hotel of the capital, no convincing conclusion has come out with regard to the accused persons who planned and executed the murder,” the PIL stated.
Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel here on January 17, 2014. A murder case was registered by police against unknown people on January 1 this year.
Amar Singh: questioned
