Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu for fresh probe in Sunanda Pushkar death case

NEW DELHI: Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today favoured a fresh probe into the Sunanda Pushkar death case, saying it "requires an inquiry".

A team of AIIMS doctors has submitted a fresh report to police on the mysterious death of Sunanda, wife of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, maintaining that she died of poisoning.

"If there is a new report then there should be an inquiry into it," the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said when asked to comment on the fresh inquiry report suggesting Sunanda died of poisoning.

The report by the three-member panel of doctors, who had conducted the autopsy on her, was prepared on the basis of the findings of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) which had examined Sunanda's viscera, sources said.

They said the team had again concluded like it did in its first report that her kidney, liver and heart were functioning normally and that her death was caused by poisoning.

Sunanda was found dead in a 5-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, a day after her Twitter spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor.

The probe into the case was handed over to the Crime Branch on January 23. However, the case was transferred back to the South District police two days later on January 25.