Sunanda Pushkar Death: A Heady Cocktail Of Politics, Elite, Suspicion

Murders have an objective. But, hate crime is like an abstract art. It can evoke a thousand images in the eyes of those who are staring at it. Sunanda Pushkar’s early departure from the world seems to be wracking quite a few nerves almost after a year after she died.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, the suave looking gentleman who had had a perfect career growth till he entered politics with his elite education, is grappling with the aftermath of the death of a woman who happened to be his third wife. This is hardly the kind of life the man who almost occupied the top most post in United Nations imagined for self.

Sunanda Pushkar, the impeccably beautiful woman who was just 49 years old when she died, left behind a plot that could have had Shakespeare write another Macbeth if he wished to. Or, did you mention Hamlet? The kind of skeletons that tumbled out of the closet before and after her death are enough to create scripts for at least a dozen Hollywood films. Wonder why RGV hasn’t yet announced a film on that!

A breathtakingly beautiful Kashmiri Pandit woman who had a rags-to-riches story in her blood, departed suddenly after an almost fantasy marriage to the then Union Minister Shashi Tharoor who enjoyed great proximity with the powers in the UPA government. The IPL fiasco where Sunanda was given sweat equity just days before the IPL bid, and her liaison with Shashi Tharoor didn’t go down too well with the Indian media. Embarrassments later, Sunanda said she would relinquish her bid, but continued to hold it. Accusations that Sunanda was Shashi’s proxy flew back and forth, finally costing Tharoor his ministerial berth. By then Sunanda and Shashi had been much married. The wedding was covered extensively with chosen dignitaries attending the ceremony held in Kerala, and subsequently an elite reception in Delhi. The ‘who’s who’ of Indian politics and sports were surely there.

All was well till another woman came into the picture. A Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, a single mother for whom Shashi Tharoor had already taken a liking, entered the scene and all hell broke loose.

Sunanda managed to scan and retweet Shashi’s newfound love saga on Twitter, tweeting from Shashi’s twitter handle, and overnight ruined his image with the information she had access to. Just when the plot was getting murkier, Shashi and Sunanda had an ugly spat, moved into Leela Hotel in Delhi to probably settle things down. The ‘blow hot blow cold’ time was still on when Mehr claimed innocence, returned equally abusive tweets to Sunanda Pushkar. Rest that followed was so close to being filmy that it couldn’t have happened in real life.

By a wintery evening of January 17, 2014 Sunanda had breathed her last. The death was as mysterious as her life and the ways and means in which she had amassed enough wealth to buy apartments and properties at elite locations worldwide. Investigations began and the death turned into a deeper mystery. A year later, India is yet to hear a final word on the death of Sunanda Pushkar nee Tharoor.

Few months into the new government after Narendra Modi assumed power, Shashi Tharoor’s support to the PM was often dubbed as his attempt to keep from being arrested in connection with his wife’s mysterious death. Investigative authorities have not been able to give a definite answer to the questions about what led to her death.

In the recent times, the case has gained a different dimension with BJP MP Subramanian Swamy sending out insidious tweets about the facts he (Tharoor) was ‘in the know of’ of about Sunanda’s murder. The war of words began between Swamy and Tharoor on the matter. Swamy said Tharoor knew who the murderer was, and challenged Shashi to reveal the names to the police. Ugly spat later, Delhi police said they will question Shashi Tharoor pertaining to the murder, almost turning it into an ‘open and shut’ case. Now truly, Shashi Tharoor and a few more ‘influential’ names who are supposed to be in the know of matters relating to shadow play in IPL have begun to see Sunanda’s ghost. Till Delhi police says who killed her, Sunanda will continue to haunt many.

Image: indiatimes