Mahima
Special Judge Geetanjali Goel has reserved her decision on whether Shashi Tharoor should be charged in the matter of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar’s death.
She heard the contentions of Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava and Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa representing the State and the accused, respectively.
The Judge inquired if there was any report which specifically mentioned alprazolam and if there exists a possibility, what dose of the drug would cause human death to which Shrivastava replied that its effect would totally depend on the health of the person at the time of the consumption.
APP Shrivastava also mentioned the involvement of the then central government and stated, “There was sweating in the clothes in the bedsheet, in the part of the human body. These all things were there, so why this CSFL has not said so? Because it is the central government at the time… so the SIT was compelled to take the services of FBI”.
The allegation against the central government was declared ‘irresponsible’ by Pahwa as the prosecution was doubting his own CSFL report.
Shrivastava contended that the reports of FBI found traces of alprazolam not just within the body but also around the body ruling out death due to natural causes and establishing the possibility of administering poison by oral route or injectable route.
Pahwa argued that the prosecution’s argument to put the case on trial despite all the evidences have already been adduced to the court to establish their contention is flawed.
Pahwa further contended, “When it was asked whether the death in this case is accidental, suicidal or homicidal, he said ‘sorry I can’t tell you but I’ll tell you in the course of trial’. The answer is given by the doctors and will not change in the trial. Twitter handle of the deceased is on record, you may read her last tweet. It’s in public domain. It’s an electronic record which is not in my control”.