Pushkar's death was unnatural, body had injury marks: Doctors

Sunanda Pushkar, wife of junior HRD minister Shashi Tharoor, had "injury marks" on her body and it was a case of "sudden unnatural death", said a doctor who conducted the post-mortem.

"We have conducted the post-mortem examination. We have completed the whole procedure. After post mortem examination, we found that it was a case of sudden unnatural death," said Sudhir Kumar Gupta, head of the department of forensic medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

"There were certain injury marks on the body. Since the investigating agency is probing the issue and there are certain issues with the injury, the details cannot be revealed," Gupta added.

However, doctors said the real cause of death can only be ascertained once the laboratory test result of biological samples are received.

"Samples for toxicological analysis, which means ruling out any poison and pathology of the heart, has been preserved by us and it will be tested and analysed by us in the laboratory," he said.

The test would be conducted and the report made available in a couple of days.

"We have videographed the whole procedure and taken photographs of the whole procedure. We have also retrieved certain samples for toxicological analysis and histopathological examination," said Gupta.

AIIMS had constituted a board of three doctors to conduct the post mortem.

"A medical board comprising three senior doctors - Sudhir Kumar Gupta, head of the department of forensic medicine, Adarsh Kumar and Shashank Punia of the same department - was constituted by the AIIMS director," said AIIMS spokesperson Amit Gupta.

Pushkar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in her room at The Leela Palace hotel in south Delhi Friday.

Her death came barely 24 hours after she and Tharoor declared they were "happily married" following public airing of tweets that hinted at an extra-marital relationship and alleged involvement of a Pakistani woman.

Tharoor, who complained of chest pain, was admitted in the same hospital a few hours after Pushkar's death. He was discharged in the afternoon.

He accompanied Pushkar's body in the ambulance to their residence at 97, Lodhi Estate. Pushkar was cremated Saturday evening. - IANS