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Journalism of Courage
A DELHI court on Friday ordered de-sealing of the five-star suite, where former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in January 2014 — within “four weeks”.
The order comes after authorities of Hotel Leela had filed a petition, stating that they are suffering “huge losses” because of the locked room. However, the court granted liberty to Delhi Police to file an application seeking more time for probe if they cannot conclude the investigation within the given time.
Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma said police and forensic teams have visited suite number 345 several times to “collect evidence”, and that police — in their status report — said they have not been able to reach a “definitive conclusion” regarding Pushkar’s death.
The hotel, in its plea, had also said that in the last one year, no team has visited suite number 345 and that sealing the room “is no longer required”. Pulling up the police, the court said: “For this reason, Hotel Leela cannot be made to suffer continuously…. The hotel cannot be put through unending hardship and loss due to lethargy on part of the investigating team… This court is of the considered view that suite number 345 of Leela Hotel be de-sealed within four weeks.”
The administration had claimed that in the past three years, the hotel has incurred a “loss of Rs 50 lakh approximately”. The suite has been sealed since January 17, 2014, when Pushkar was found dead.
“If the investigating agency wants to take all the material lying inside the suite for analysis, the hotel will allow it. Continuous lockage of the suite is not only spoiling the room, but the adjoining areas as well,” the counsel had said.
The hotel’s counsel told the court that they had identified a place for police to store all evidence related to case.
