Pushkar died a 'sudden, unnatural death', say doctors

A team of three AIIMS doctors conducted a videographed post-mortem on Pushkar's body in the presence of a magistrate

An autopsy report on Saturday revealed Sunanda Pushkar died a "sudden unnatural death" and her body bore several injury marks, deepening the mystery surrounding the death of Union minister Shashi Tharoor's wife, against the backdrop of an alleged marital discord.

Pushkar, 52, was found dead in a hotel in South Delhi on Friday, a day after her Twitter spat with a Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor. However, Pushkar and Tharoor had issued a joint statement declaring they were happily married.

A team of three doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences conducted a videographed post-mortem on the body in the presence of a magistrate. Later, Dr Sudhir Gupta, the head of the panel and AIIMS' forensic sciences department chief, said it was a case of "sudden, unnatural death".

Asked if poisoning had not been ruled out as a cause of the death, Dr Adarsh Kumar, additional professor of forensic medicines and one of the members of the panel, said: "Of course", indicating poisoning had not been ruled out.

"If a person is suffering from a disease, the terminal event may be something else. It doesn't matter. Let the investigation be over."

According to a source, Pushkar's body bore injuries on her hand and face but those appeared unlikely to be the cause of her death. She appears to have died between 1 pm and 7 pm on Friday.

She was known to be suffering from stomach tuberculosis and Lupus, an auto-immune disorder that could lead to rashes or marks.

Dr Kumar confirmed Pushkar was suffering from these health problems and said details of her treatment had been sought.

Dr Gupta said her body had "certain injuries" but refused to give details. "I cannot reveal the details. Basically, in medico-legal cases, the number of injuries does not matter. Whether these injuries relate to fatality or not matters."

A doctor said there were cases where a person might consume excessive alcohol and lose control over his or her airways, which get blocked, leading to gastric aspiration and causing acute pneumonia, or even death. However, doctors concerned with the case refused to speculate on the cause of the death in the absence of a complete post-mortem report. The doctors described these as initial findings and said a clear picture would emerge after a couple of days, when they received toxicological analysis and completed a visco-pathological examination.