Adding to the mystery behind Sunanda Pushkar's death, a close friend of the deceased has revealed that she had started taking "fistfuls of medicines" weeks ahead of her death and seemed distressed. Additionally, she also claimed that George Bush and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were consulting her.
"Sunanda was taking fistfuls of medicines and I told her also that 'what are these for' and she said 'I don't sleep very well and I haven't slept for years and so I have Alprax and various painkillers'. In fact we did tell her that this was dangerous," Pushkar's friend Tej Saraf told NDTV
Saraf was sharing the details of her health condition as told to him by Pushkar herself while referring to an incident in December 2013. Shashi Tharoor and Pushkar had then gone to Goa on a trip and were staying with Saraf.
The 77-year-old told the news channel that Pushkar was unwell and had fainted twice during the visit; once on the beach and second time on a boat. "She wasn't eating well, she wasn't sleeping well. She was in a distraught condition," he added.
Tharoor had allegedly told the doctors that Pushkar had Lupus – an autoimmune disorder -- but the doctors who conducted her post mortem denied that she was suffering from any serious medical condition.
In the recent interrogation in Pushkar's alleged murder case, Tharoor was even questioned why he had said "that she had Lupus when medical examination proved negative".
Though the doctors found no traces of Lupus in her body, Saraf said Pushkar told him a couple of years back that she has the autoimmune disease.
"She told me about lupus two years ago for the first time. My son offered to introduce her to a doctor who is a world authority on lupus but she never showed any interest," he told NDTV.
He told the news channel that he wants to share these details now, after almost a year of Pushkar's death, because of the statements being made in relation to her death. He also said that he is willing to testify for the police if required.
"I was appalled over the last few weeks by statements being made by various people particularly that lupus was a red herring. I decided to break my silence and tell you what happened during her stay with us over the New Year," Saraf said.
Pushkar, 51, was found dead under mysterious conditions in a suite at Leela Palace Hotel in Delhi on 17 January 2014. After three medical reports submitted by a team of doctors, the Delhi police finally declared it a murder case this month and has turned the investigation accordingly.
A few days back, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Delhi police questioned Tharoor as the witness to her alleged murder.
