Sunanda Pushkar suffered mental agony following scuffle with Shashi Tharoor, counsel tells court

New Delhi: The counsel for Sunanda Pushkar on Tuesday told a Delhi court that prior to her death, she was suffering from mental agony following a scuffle with her husband, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Alluding to the post mortem report, Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava submitted before the special CBI court Judge Ajay Kumar that Pushkar had injury marks on various parts of her body, which were at least 12 hours to four days old.

The counsel read out the statement of Pushkar's friend Nalini, in which she had narrated Tharoor's relationship with a woman named Tarar. "I got a call from Sunanda who was sobbing. She had found some messages exchanged between Tarar and Tharoor," he said, adding that an e-mail written by Tharoor to Trar addressing her as "my darlingest" has also been found.

Vikas Pahwa, the lawyer appearing on the behalf of Tharoor, however, refuted the claims. After hearing the contentions put forth by both the sides, Judge Kumar posted the matter for hearing on August 31 and also directed the prosecution to arrange all the documents in the case.

Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in the city on the night of January 17, 2014. Following her murder, Tharoor was charged under sections 498-A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.