Sunanda Pushkar inquiry must be free of political pressure, says politician Shashi Tharoor

Thrissur: The murder investigation into Sunanda Puskhar's death must be conducted "without any predetermined outcome or political pressure," her husband and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said today at an ayurvedic resort in Kerala where he completes a 14-day treatment.

Mr Tharoor, 58, described himself as "a bereaved husband" and said his silence on the investigation should not be construed as "sinister." He said he doesn't want to make public statements which would undermine or compromise the police inquiry. However, the parliamentarian from Kerala said that he wrote yesterday to Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi outlining "a number of concerns" about how the inquiry is being conducted.

Earlier this week, the Delhi Police said that Ms Pushkar, who was 51 when she was found dead at a Delhi hotel a year ago, had not committed suicide.  Ms Bassi said she was poisoned- either orally or via an injection - but did not name a suspect.

Just two days ago, a letter surfaced that was sent to him by Mr Tharoor in November.  The politician alleged in that note that the police had beaten up his domestic help during interrogation to pressure him into confessing that Ms Pushkar had been killed jointly by Mr Tharoor and him. Mr Bassi has refuted allegations of an attempt to frame Mr Tharoor.

The same domestic helper, Narain Singh, was interrogated for several hours again yesterday.  In his statement, accessed by NDTV, Mr Singh says that the last 12 month of Mr Tharoor's four-year marriage to Ms Pushkar was studded with bitter fights.  He said that hours before Ms Pushkar was found dead in her bed at a hotel suite the couple had rented, she had asked for a white outfit to be delivered to her so she could wear it at a press conference that day.

Two days before she died, Sunanda Pushkar publicly accused her husband of having an affair with a Pakistani journalist but then the couple appeared on television to declare they were happily married.