Probe murder, suicide angles in Sunanda's death: SDM to police

Delhi Police was today directed to investigate murder or suicide angles in the death of Sunanda Pushkar after the autopsy pin-pointed "poisoning" as the reason for the mysterious death of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor's wife.

Alok Sharma, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate who is handling the high-profile case, has given this directive to the police after considering the autopsy report which also mentioned over a dozen injury marks on both her hands as well as a minor bruise on her left cheek which could be due to use of "blunt force". However, the report ruled out death due to these injuries.

In a report to the police, SDM, who has recorded the statement of Sunanda's brother, son, Tharoor and his staff, said that no family member suspected any foul play in the death.

Doctors at AIIMS who conducted autopsy on Sunanda had said her death was "sudden and unnatural" and it was caused by "drug overdose" which in other words could be called drug poisoning.

52-year-old Sunanda was found dead in a 5-star hotel in South Delhi on Friday night, a day after her twitter spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor.

The autopsy report also said no food samples were found in Sunanda's stomach which according to doctors suggested that "she had not been eating".

Police sources said two strips of anti-depressant drug alprazolam, commonly known as alprax, were found in the hotel suite where she was found dead.