The Shashi Tharoor-Sunanda Puskhar episode never seems to fall short of movie-like twists, with a new angle emerging that the Congress MP wanted to divorce his wife and marry Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar.
Journalist Nalini Singh, who is said to have been close to Pushkar, who was found dead in a Delhi hotel in January this year, has now revealed in her statement to a sub-divisional magistrate that she was told by the latter that Tharoor was keen on marrying Tarar.
"Sunanda said Tarar and Tharoor had exchanged intimate romantic messages and that one of the messages from Tarar implied that Tharoor was going to divorce her after the 2014 general elections and get married to Tarar. And that Tarar had written in a message that she could not live without him. Sunanda said Tharoor's family was also encouraging this affair," Singh said in her statement, reported by the Times of India.
A war of words had broken out on Twitter between Pushkar and Tarar in January after the former accused the Pakistani journalist of having an affair with Tharoor and stalking him. She had even called Tarar an ISI agent.
While Tharoor had come out and said his Twitter account was hacked, Pushkar had rubbished the claim. "To my query if the Twitter messages posted from Tharoor's account were genuine, she said they were completely genuine and that somebody who deeply cared for her had posted them in public space," Singh said in her statement. "Incidentally, she also said she had taken over the crimes of Tharoor in the IPL matter but did not state if she was going to expose the matter."
Singh had earlier said Pushkar had spoken to her just hours before she was found dead on 17 January. Investigations in the death are still on, but the case received a major jolt when an AIIMS doctor had revealed earlier this month that he was pressurised to manipulate the autopsy report.
Pushkar's caretaker Narayan has also indicated in his statement to the magistrate that Pushkar and Tharoor's relationship had become rocky just days before Pushkar's death on 17 January.
"I had gone along with the couple to Thiruvananthapuram where they got into a heated argument over Tarar. We later returned on 15 January afternoon, but on the way back they again started fighting," he said in his statement, as reported by India Today.
Singh also threw light on Pushkar's health issues, stating that she was ill with lupus and stomach TB and even feared cancer.
"She also said she had checked into a hospital herself and that Tharoor had never taken her to a doctor or a hospital. She also mentioned Tharoor had a romantic liaison with another woman and mentioned about a flight from Pune," Singh said.
