original writ jurisdiction and in the matter of …€¦ · shashi tharoor, dr. rajeev bhasin and...
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
ORIGINAL WRIT JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. OF 2017
AND
IN THE MATTER OF A PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
IN THE MATTER OF:
Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Anr. PETITIONERS
Vs
Delhi Police & Others RESPONDENTS
INDEX
S. No Particulars Page No.
1. Urgent Application
2. Notice of Motion
3. Memo of Parties
4. Synopsis and List of Dates
5. Writ Petition and Affidavits in Support of
the Petitioners
6. ANNEXURE P-1
Being the relevant pages of post-mortem
report no. 77/14 dated 18/01/2014 by the
Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com)
AIIMS Medical Board.
7. ANNEXURE P-2
Being the emails exchanged between Dr.
Shashi Tharoor, Dr. Rajeev Bhasin and Dr.
Anil Gupta.
8. ANNEXURE P-3
Being the copy of relevant pages of the
Subsequent Medical Opinion given by
AIIMS dated 27th
September, 2014.
9. ANNEXURE P-4
Being the copy of letter written by Dr.
Swamy to the Home Minister requesting to
order an SIT investigation headed by the
CBI to enquire into the death of Sunanda
Pushkar.
10. ANNEXURE P-5
Being the copy of relevant pages of the
Subsequent Medical Opinion given by
AIIMS dated 12th
January, 2016.
11. ANNEXURE P-6
Being the copy of letter sent by Hansraj
Gangaram Ahir, the Minister for Home
Affairs to Dr. Swamy rejecting his request
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to constitute a multiple agency Special
Investigation Team.
PETITIONERS IN PERSON: DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
ISHKARAN SINGH BHANDARI
AB 14 Pandara Road, New Delhi 110003;
………Mobile No: 98101 70087
Email: [email protected]
New Delhi
Date
Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
ORIGINAL WRIT JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. OF 2017
AND
IN THE MATTER OF A PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
IN THE MATTER OF:
Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Anr. PETITIONERS
Vs
Delhi Police & Others RESPONDENTS
URGENT APPLICATION
Deputy Registrar
High Court of Delhi, New Delhi
Sir,
Will you kindly treat the accompanying petition and application
as an urgent one in accordance with the High Court Rules and Orders.
The grounds of urgency are that this is a Public Interest
Litigation, and very influential people are involved in the case,
leading to attempts to protect them and the matter has faced a lot of
unnecessary delay already.
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It is prayed that the matter be listed on
Yours Faithfully,
PETITIONERS IN PERSON: DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
ISHKARAN SINGH BHANDARI
AB 14 Pandara Road, New Delhi 110003;
………Mobile No: 98101 70087
Email: [email protected]
New Delhi
Date
Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
ORIGINAL WRIT JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (Criminal) NO. OF 2017
AND
IN THE MATTER OF A PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
IN THE MATTER OF:
Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Anr. PETITIONERS
Vs
Delhi Police & Others RESPONDENTS
NOTICE OF MOTION
Sir,
The enclosed writ petition by the petitioners is coming up for hearing
on ________________________
PETITIONERS IN PERSON: DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
ISHKARAN SINGH BHANDARI
AB 14 Pandara Road, New Delhi 110003;
………Mobile No: 98101 70087
Email: [email protected]
New Delhi
Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
ORIGINAL WRIT JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (Criminal) NO. OF 2017
AND
IN THE MATTER OF A PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
MEMO OF PARTIES
1. Dr. Subramanian Swamy
AB 14 Pandara Road,
New Delhi 110003
2. Ishkaran Singh Bhandari
AB 14 Pandara Road,
New Delhi 110003 PETITIONERS
Vs
1. Delhi Police through Commissioner of Police
MSO Building, IP Estate,
New Delhi 110095
2. Ministry of Home Affairs through Secretary
North Block,
New Delhi 110011
3. Central Bureau of Investigation through CBI Director
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Plot No. 5-B, 6th Floor,
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi 110003 RESPONDENTS
PETITIONERS IN PERSON: DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
ISHKARAN SINGH BHANDARI
AB 14 Pandara Road, New Delhi 110003;
………Mobile No: 98101 70087
Email: [email protected]
New Delhi
Date
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SYNOPSIS
1) The instant Writ Petition seeks a writ/ direction from this Hon‟ble
Court ordering the setting up of CBI headed SIT to investigate in a
time bound manner under a court monitored mechanism under
Article 226 of the Constitution of India, 1950 the murder case of
Late Sunanda Pushkar in which inordinate delays has been caused
which is a blot on the justice system.
2) The objective of penal law and the societal interest in setting the
criminal law in motion against the offenders with reasonable
expedition is thereby frustrated. The adverse effect of delay on the
society at large is immeasurable. The fear of law and the faith in the
criminal justice system is eroded irretrievably.
3) The case referred to in this Writ Petition is an extreme example of
the slow-motion of the criminal justice process and the extent to
which it can be subverted by the rich and influential. It unfolds the
apparent apathy on the part of all those concerned with the
administration of criminal justice.
4) The fact that influential political personalities and their henchmen
are involved in this case presents an added dimension to the issue
and raises questions on the efficacy of the existing systems and
practices to counter the moves of such influential persons facing
serious criminal charges.
5) Public interest demands that the criminal cases especially those
related to serious crimes are concluded within a reasonable time so
that those guilty are punished. People get frustrated with the system
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and lose faith in the rule of law, if at every stage there is delay and
the process of justice is not allowed to take its normal course, more
so, when deliberate attempts are made to subvert and delay the
process to favour influential people.
LIST OF DATES AND EVENTS
S.No Date Event
1. On the night of
January 17 2014
There occurred a mysterious death of Ms.
Sunanda Pushkar wife of a politician and
then Minister of the UPA government Dr.
Shashi Tharoor. No case was registered
and the phone of the deceased which was
handed over to Dr. Tharoor.
2. January 18 2014 Cremation was done within 24 hours of
her death which is not a general practice
in criminal jurisprudence.
3. January 19 2014 Medical Board stated that Pictures of
crime scene, statements / reports of the
doctor who first examined Sunanda after
her death and other circumstantial
evidences required to form a medical
opinion was not submitted by the IO.
Then Union Health Minister and Director
AIIMS presurrized the HOD of forensic
department AIIMS Dr.Sudhir K. Gupta to
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tamper with the post-mortem report.
4. January 20, 2014 The post-mortem report and the opinion
vide PM report no. 77/14 of deceased
Sunanda Pushkar were handed over to the
Investigating Sub Divisional Magistrate,
Vasant Vihar, Mr. Alok Sharma as below
:- “ Cause of death as poisoning .
Circumstantial are suggestive of
alprazolam poisoning.”
5. January 26th 2014 Mr. Shashi Tharoor wrote an email to Dr.
Rajiv Bhasin and Mr. Anil Chatta which
has been discussed in Subsequent Medical
Opinion by Department of Forensic
Medicine and Toxicology AIIMS, New
Delhi, dated 27th September, 2014 as
requiring investigation.
6. February 12th 2014 The email of Dr. Anil Gupta, who was a
child specialist at Dubai and a close
family friend of Sunanda Pushkar, has
also been discussed in Subsequent
Medical Opinion by Department of
Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
AIIMS, New Delhi, dated 27th September,
2014 as requiring investigation.
7. March 29th 2014 The IO moved an application for medical
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opinion with the CFSL, CBI, Delhi.
Report of viscera which contradicted the
above PM report and viscera showed that
no Alprazolam was present. However the
medical board reiterated the death is due
to poisoning.
8. July 14th 2014 An application was sent by Dr. Swamy to
the Home Minister requesting to order an
SIT investigation headed by the CBI to
enquire into the death of Sunanda
Pushkar.
9. August 28th 2014 IO submitted another retest of viscera
report from FSL, Delhi which again
contradicted the above PM report as the
test showed no Alprazolam. However the
medical board reiterated that the death is
due to poisoning.
10. September 2014 Nine months after she was found
mysteriously dead in a hotel room, Delhi
Police woke up to find that some of the
personal belongings of Sunanda Pushkar
had been missing all this while
11. September 27th 2014 Medical Board gave a comprehensive
subsequent opinion which raised 13
questions which were essentially required
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to be addressed, with apprehension of
viscera report and no satisfactory
compliance was performed by the Police
in this context till date.
12. October 1st 2014 It took more than nine months for IO to
submit documents like photographs,
statements of witnesses.
13. October 6th 2014 The statement of Dr. Shashi Tharoor was
recorded after nine months of inordinate
delay from the death of Sunanda Pushkar
and he was not even compelled by the
Police to give a statement on time as is
usually the case in a murder investigation.
14. October 29th 2014 IO further submitted a request letter to
undertake crime scene visit at Hotel Leela,
which was subsequently arranged on 5th
November, 2014.
15. November 5th 2014 When the Medical Board and forensic
Scientists undertook the crime scene after
nine months, fresh evidences were
discovered which were earlier ignored by
the Delhi Police.
16. November 7th 2014 Cloth parcels for laboratory examination
were received by CFSL
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17. December 1st 2014 It took months to record statements from
various doctors regarding Sunanda‟s
medical history prior to her death.
18. December 9th 2014 Examination regarding the cloth parcel
received on 7th Nov, 2014 was
commenced.
19. December 29th 2014 The medical board submitted the opinion
giving various inputs for scientific
investigation and reiterating certain
specific points which led to sending the
viscera to FBI, USA.
20. January 1st 2015 A case of murder was registered.
21. September 9th 2015 FBI reports detected Alprazolam and
Lidocaine in all the viscera samples and
cloth samples which confirmed and
endorsed the PM report no. 77/14, dated
20.01.2014, of AIIMS medical Board.
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22. December 9th 2015 FBI reports submitted to AIIMS Medical
Board for final opinion on cause of death
which concluded that cause of death in
this case as poisoning and confirmed the
death due to excessive ingestion of tablet
Alprax and also did not rule out the
presence of Lidocaine which is an
injectable poison.
23. August 23rd 2016 Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, the Minister of
State for Home Affairs rejected the
request of Dr. Swamy to constitute a
multiple agency Special Investigation
Team.
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
ORIGINAL WRIT JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. _________ OF 2017
AND
IN THE MATTER OF A PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
IN THE MATTER OF:
Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Anr. PETITIONERS
Vs
Delhi Police & Others RESPONDENTS
WRIT PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 226 OF THE
CONSTITUTION OF INDIA PRAYING FOR AN
APPROPRIATE WRIT, ORDER OR DIRECTION FOR A
COURT MONITORED INVESTIGATION IN THE ABOVE
MURDER CASE.
To the Chief Justice of Delhi and
His Companion Judges
of the Delhi High Court.
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THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE PETITIONER ABOVE
NAMED MOST RESPECTFULLY STATES AS UNDER:
1. That the Petitioners have no personal interest in the litigation
and the petition is not guided by self-gain or the gain of any
other person/institution/ body and there is no motive other than
public interest in filing the writ petition.
2. That the facts in the writ petition are obtained from newspaper
reports, and from certain court cases on the matter, followed up
by painstaking research checked out with reliable sources who
resisted the attempts of subjugation and undue influence.
3. That the Writ Petition has been filed for all citizens of India,
whose security is liable to be affected by the actions
complained of. It is humbly submitted that these persons, not
being privy to all the facts and lacking the skill and expertise to
do so follow them up, are incapable of accessing the Courts
themselves.
4. That the Petitioner No. 1 is a nationally known public figure,
active in politics and public affairs. He is deeply concerned
with the protection of the Rule of Law and the enforcement of
the statutory duties of the Government as well as purity in
public life.
A. The Petitioner holds a doctorate in Economics from the
world famous Harvard University in the U.S.A., where,
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before returning to India he had taught Economics – and
he has continued to teach there for some decades in the
summer semester; and he had also taught Economics at
the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, as a full
Professor. He is a senior politician, a Member of
Parliament for five terms, who has been a senior Cabinet
Minister in the Central Government, holding the
portfolios of Commerce and Law & Justice, and later he
was Chairman of the Commission for Labour Standards,
a post of Cabinet Rank. Twice he has been elected to the
Rajya Sabha from the State of Uttar Pradesh, to the Lok
Sabha twice from Maharashtra and once from the State of
Tamil Nadu. He has numerous books and articles to his
credit. He has lectured both in India and abroad on
national concerns as well as on Economics. He has
initiated and conscientiously fought many public interest
litigations. He regards this as a duty he owes his country.
B. In particular, the Petitioner No. 1 being a bona fide law
abiding citizen believes that it is his duty to set into
motion the legal process when grave offences which
affect the society at large are brought to his notice which,
in his opinion ,cause a grave miscarriage of justice. It is
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this duty he seeks to perform in the instant case, as set
out herein below.
C. Ever since Petitioner No. 1 entered politics in or about
1970, the Petitioner has deemed it his duty to fight
corruption and authoritarianism. He has ever since been a
rallying point in fighting corruption and autocracy in
public life. He has filed a number of Public Interest
Litigations against corruption and other public issues
both in this Hon‟ble Court and in various High Courts in
India. For instance, in the last decade, the Petitioner was
instrumental in exposing the mammoth corruption
involved in the allocation by the Union Government, of
2G Spectrum; where after the Hon‟ble Supreme Court is
monitoring the matter in C.A. No. 10660/2010 in which
matter the Petitioner is an impleaded party.
D. The Petitioner No. 2 is a lawyer of ten years standing and
has previously filed a Public Interest Litigation in the
infamous “Nirbhaya rape case” challenging the Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection of Protection) Act, 2000 in
which the Hon‟ble Supreme Court had issued a notice
and a separate detailed order upholding its
maintainability. That later the Parliament had amended
the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Protection)
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Act, 2015 and incorporated the changes sought by the
Petitioner.
E. The Petitioners are personally bearing the cost of this
Writ Petition.
F. The Petitioners have the means to pay the costs of if any,
imposed by this Hon‟ble Court and on an undertaking to
the Hon‟ble Court in that respect.
5. That the Petitioner has been pursuing these matters as set out
herein below, most notably in a representation to the Prime
Minister.
6. That the Petitioner has previously filed a very large number of
PIL‟s, too numerous to enumerate, two recent sample matters,
both the well-known 2G Spectrum cases are given below :
No.of the case Status Outcome
W.P.(C) No.10/2011 in
the Supreme Court of
India
Disposed off Allowed
(2012)3SCC1
C.A. No.1193/2012 in
the Supreme Court of
India
Disposed off Allowed
(2012)3SCC64
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7. That the instant Writ Petition seeks a pronouncement from this
Hon‟ble Court ordering the setting up of CBI headed SIT to
investigate under a court monitored mechanism under Article
226 of the Constitution of India, 1950 in the murder case of
Late Sunanda Pushkar in which inordinate delays have been
caused which are a blot on justice system. The objective of
penal law and the societal interest in setting the criminal law
into motion against the offenders with reasonable expedition is
thereby frustrated. The adverse effect of delay on the society at
large is immeasurable. The fear of law and the faith in the
criminal justice system is eroded irretrievably. The case
referred to in this Writ Petition is an extreme example of the
slow-motion of criminal justice process and the extent to which
it can be subverted. It unfolds the apparent apathy on the part of
all those concerned with administration of criminal justice.
8. That the fact that influential political personalities and their
henchmen are involved in this case presents an added
dimension to the issue and raises questions on the efficacy of
the existing systems and practices to counter the moves of such
influential persons facing serious criminal charges.
9. FACTS:
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A. That 3 years since the murder of a prominent woman and
wife of a Union Minister, no accused persons have been
arrested by the Police.
B. That even after lapse of 3 years from the murder of wife
of a Union Minister, no charge-sheet has been filed.
C. That in cases where the investigation agency takes
inordinate delay to protect powerful and influential
accused, a court monitored probe has to be ordered.
D. That initially in the murder case of Late Sunanda
Pushkar, no case was registered, preliminary reports
suggested that death was caused due to drug overdose
namely “Alprax” which was found at the scene of crime.
However, subsequently it was found that Alprax was
never prescribed by any doctor for the deceased.
E. No medicines or tablets were seized from the room till
19th January, 2014.
F. Dr. Tharoor in his statement given to police dated – 6th
October, 2014 mentioned in his letter that “As regards
Alprax 0.5, I wish to state that my late wife used to take
this to enable her to sleep, who prescribed or suggested
alprax to her is unknown to me”, also he stated that “I
had never used Alprax and was not even aware of it till
my wife mentioned it to me that she relied on it to sleep.
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To my best of my knowledge nobody in my household,
including Narayan nor Bajrangi, use Alprax or any
similar medication.”
G. That after the hospitalization of Dr. Tharoor in AIIMS at
2.55 mornings on 18.1.2014 vides 2014/030/0005245 on
complaint of uneasiness and palpitation, Aspirin and
Alprax were prescribed after examination.
H. The post-mortem report and the opinion vide PM report
no. 77/14 of deceased Sunanda Pushkar were handed
over to the investigating sub divisional Magistrate ,
Vasant Vihar , Mr. Alok Sharma as below :- “ Cause of
death as poisoning . Circumstantial are suggestive of
alprazolam poisoning. All the injuries mentioned are
caused by blunt forces, simple in nature, not contributing
to death and are produced in scuffle except injury no. 10
which is an injection mark. Injury no. 12 is a teeth bite
mark”, the relevant pages of post-mortem report no.
77/14 dated 17/01/2014 by IO Alok Sharma, SDM of
Vasant Vihar is annexed hereto as ANNEXURE P-1.
I. On 26th
January 2014, Mr. Shashi Tharoor wrote an email
to Dr. Rajiv Bhasin and Mr. Anil Chatta is being quoted
verbatim here as: “Thanks Rajiv. I am forwarding this to
the attention of Dr. Mishra of AIIMS through our mutual
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friend Anil Chatta. I recall our fear that without regular
hydration and salt intake she could suffer from recurring
episodes of dangerously low blood pressure, clearly this
must have occurred since she was not eating or drinking
properly for two or three days.” The copy of the emails
exchanged between Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Dr. Rajeev
Bhasin and Dr. Anil Gupta is annexed hereto as
ANNEXURE P-2.
J. This email has been discussed in point no. 11 in
Subsequent Medical Opinion by Department of Forensic
Medicine and Toxicology AIIMS, New Delhi, dated 27th
September, 2014 as requiring investigation. The copy of
relevant pages of the above mentioned medical opinion
given by AIIMS is hereto annexed as ANNEXURE P-3.
K. The email of Dr. Anil Gupta who was a child specialist at
Dubai and a close family friend of Sunanda Pushkar has
been discussed in point no. 12 in Subsequent Medical
Opinion by Department of Forensic Medicine and
Toxicology AIIMS, New Delhi, dated 27th
September,
2014 as requiring investigation. He stated the following
in his email:
i. The deceased told him that she had Lupus and was
consulting an expert for the same.
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ii. She had several episodes of plummeting blood
pressure for which I urged her to seek attention of
specialists.
iii. She used to bruise easily and a mere injunction for
blood tests bumping into a piece of furniture could
result in visible bruising.
L. On 29th
March 2014, the IO moved an application for
medical opinion with the CFSL, CBI, Delhi report of
viscera which contradicted the above PM report and
viscera showed that NO ALPRAZOLAM was present.
However the medical board reiterated the death is due to
poisoning.
M. On July 14th July 2014, a letter was sent by Dr. Swamy to
the Home Minister requesting to order an SIT
investigation headed by the CBI to enquire into the death
of Sunanda Pushkar. A copy of the above mentioned
letter is attached hereto as ANNEXURE P-4.
N. Nine months after she was found mysteriously dead in a
hotel room , the Delhi Police woke up to find that some
of the personnel belongings (clothes, footwear, handbag)
of Sunanda Pushkar have been missing all this while.
This clearly shows a botched investigation, done at the
behest of rich and influential.
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O. Medical Board gave a comprehensive subsequent opinion
which raised 13 questions which were essentially
required to be addressed, with apprehension of viscera
report, to lead the investigation in the interests of truth
and justice. No satisfactory compliance was performed
by the Police in this context till date.
P. The Medical Board perused all the 211 pages documents
of KIMS submitted by the IO of the deceased and did not
find any abnormal signs or tests, indicating her perfectly
good health.
Q. It took more than nine months for IO to submit
documents like photographs, statements of witnesses.
R. The statement of Dr. Shashi Tharoor was recorded after
nine months of inordinate delay from the death of
Sunanda Pushkar and he was not even compelled by the
Police to give a statement on time as is usually the case
in a murder investigation.
S. IO further submitted a request letter to undertake crime
scene visit at Hotel Leela, which was subsequently
arranged on 5th
November, 2014. The Crime Scene visit
report was reserved with Medical Board due to certain
discrepancies.
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T. Deliberate botching of investigation and desire to protect
the influential by the Delhi Police can be seen from the
fact that when the Medical Board and forensic Scientists
undertook the crime scene, fresh evidences were
discovered including broken glass pieces and fluid marks
at the crime scene, smell of urination from the lower
garment of the deceased and the bed sheet which was
earlier ignored by the Delhi Police.
U. FBI reports detected Alprazolam (exceeding prescribed
dose leads to poisoning) and Lidocaine (an
antiarrhythmic drug of heart, and may cause fatality if
administered intravenously) in all the viscera samples i.e.
stomach and its contents, spleen, liver section, half of
each kidney, blood sample, as well as clothing, bed cover
and bed sheet which confirmed and endorsed the PM
report no. 77/14, dated 18.01.2014, of AIIMS medical
Board.
V. FBI reports submitted to AIIMS Board for final opinion
on cause of death. Medical Board in their opinion dated
12/01/2016 concluded that cause of death in this case as
poisoning and confirmed the death due to excessive
ingestion of tablet Alprax and also did not rule out the
presence of Lidocaine which is an injectable poison. The
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copy of the relevant pages of above mentioned medical
opinion given by AIIMS is annexed hereto as
ANNEXURE P-5.
W. Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, the Minister for Home Affairs
rejected the request of Dr. Swamy to constitute a multiple
agency Special Investigation Team. The copy of above
mentioned letter is annexed hereto as ANNEXURE P-6.
10. That inordinate delay and deliberate attempts made by Dr.
Tharoor to mislead the investigation in the matter can be made
more clear from the list of events above mentioned as it
indicates that :-
i. Phone of the deceased was handed over to Tharoor
on the same day without prior investigation.
ii. Many data and dates in the phones were found
deleted after seizure by police team.
iii. Body of the deceased was cremated within 24 hrs.
iv. CCTV Footage of main porch of Hotel Leela for
relevant time is missing.
v. Sufficient input was not given to the medical board
by the IO required to form a medical opinion.
vi. The photographs of scene of occurrence have not
been submitted by IO.
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vii. The HOD of the forensic department was under a
tremendous pressure of Director of AIIMS, Dr.
Tharoor and Gulam Nabi Azad to give autopsy
report as natural death and clean chit as
communicated by Dr. Gupta.
viii. The preliminary PM report no. 77/14 suggested
death due to Alprazolam poisoning and as it can be
made out that successful attempts were made to
tamper the reports as the latter followed viscera
reports sugested no presence of ALPRAZOLAM .
ix. The viscera were analysed at both the labs CFSL
as well as FSL failed to detect its presence even
when the multiple viscera samples were fresh.
Whereas, Alprazolam was detected by FBI after a
period of more than 1 ½ years in all the viscera.
The same created a legal confusion /stalled
investigation in this case for almost 3 years. This
issue shows the interference of some high profile
people as who don‟t want the truth to come out as
some big scam is behind her death and this is
required to be legally investigated, for the reasons
behind her murder.
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x. In regard of the email dated 26th Jan, 2014 & 12
th
Feb. 2014 the AIIMS in its subsequent opinion
dated 12th January. 2016 have been construed that
these emails written after several days of death of
Mrs. Sunanda Pushkar are a desperate effort to
mislead the investigation.
xi. Officers concerned with the case were removed
from investigation by some or the other mode of
instrument.
xii. New facts and evidences like pieces of broken
glass, fluid marks and eatables were discovered
after 11 months of her death showing either the
incompetency or complicity of Delhi Police to
protect the influential.
xiii. It took months to record statements of the
concerned persons (Dr. Tharoor and doctors
concerned with Sunanda‟s health).
xiv. Medical Board and Forensic Scientists were taken
to the crime scene only on 5th November, 2014.
xv. It took 2 months to commence the examination of
the new evidences discovered in November, 2014.
xvi. A year long unnecessary delay was caused in
exchanging letters, collection and recording of
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evidences, statements and submissions of the same
by the IO.
xvii. None of the treatment documents of Mrs. Sunanda
Pushkar had mentioned prescription of Tablet
Alprax which was found at the scene of death.
xviii. It took months to record statements from doctors
regarding Sunanda‟s medical history. Prior to her
death, she was thoroughly investigated for
Systemaic Lupus Erythematosus(SLE); however
she was not found to be suffering from Lupus or
any other serious life threatening medical illness.
The email of Dr. Anil Gupta is inconsistent with
the medical history/ reports of the deceased.
xix. During visit to scene of incidence it was noted that
several broken pieces of glass were found on the
carpet and curtains suggestive of forceful handling
of glass which is indicative of scuffle which needs
further explanation.
xx. Inspite of suspicious circumstances, statements
recorded of Nalini Singh, Narayan Singh, medical
reports, a case of murder was registered after a
year long delay on 1st January, 2015.
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xxi. FBI reports detected Alprazolam and Lidocaine,
exceeding prescribed dose of Alprazolam leads to
poisoning and Lidocaine is an antiarrhythmic drug
of heart, and may cause fatality if administered
intravenously. This requires further legal
investigation as there was a presence of injection
mark over body of deceased injury no.10 and other
injuries mentioned in PM report 77/14 are
produced by scuffle suggesting that Alprazolam
was forcibly ingested in excessive quantity. There
have been reported cases of homicide by lidocaine
poisoning.
xxii. There was presence of teeth bite mark over the
body of the deceased injury no. 12 as mentioned in
PM Report 77/14 which is suggestive of struggle.
11. This writ petition is filed on the basis of the following grounds
which are set out below without prejudice to each other.
GROUNDS:
A. BECAUSE the incident took place on January 17, 2014 and till
May 26, 2014 Dr. Shashi Tharoor was a Minister in the UPA
government having a great influence in the system, he thereafter
made attempts to influence the Government to hush up the
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murder case of Late Sunanda Pushkar, and remains even today
in continuous interference in the police investigation.
B. BECAUSE the Court has the power in appropriate cases, to
order a court monitored probe, where the investigation agency
reports to the Court.
C. BECAUSE the Petitioners are relying on the ratio of the
judgment of the Hon‟ble Supreme Court of India in the case of
Vinay Tyagi vs. Irshad Ali@ Deepak & Ors. [(Cri. Appeal
Nos. 2040- 2041 of 2012) Para 34] which is reproduced below:
“It can safely be stated and concluded that in an appropriate
case, when the court feels that the investigation by the police
authorities is not in the proper direction and that in order to do
complete justice and where the facts of the case demand, it is
always open to the Court to hand over the investigation to a
specialised agency. These principles have been reiterated with
approval in the judgments of this Court in the case of Disha v.
State of Gujarat & Ors. [(2011) 13 SCC 337], Vineet Narain &
Ors. v. Union of India & Anr.[(1998) 1 SCC 226], Union of
India & Ors. v. Sushil Kumar Modi & Ors. [1996 (6) SCC 500]
and Rubabbuddin Sheikh v. State of Gujarat & Ors. [(2010) 2
SCC 200].”
D. BECAUSE the investigation so far conducted reveals
involvement of several political and other influential
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personalities wielding considerable clout and influence to
subvert justice.
E. BECAUSE the Hon‟ble Court can order the SIT or CBI enquiry
even without the consent of State Governments under Art. 226
of the Constitution, 1950.
F. BECAUSE on the afternoon of January 15, 2014 Sunanda
tweeted that she will expose her husband Shashi Tharoor's IPL
frauds. Her tweets were sent as distress signals and hinted that
she knew something crucial regarding the IPL hoax.
G. BECAUSE on January 17th, 2014, early morning
around 4am, she sent messages to four journalists - namely
Barkha Dutt (then with NDTV), Sagarika Ghose(then with
CBB-IBN) and Rahul Kanwal (India Today) and Prema Sridevi
(then with Times Now) to come to the hotel by afternoon to
give interviews on IPL frauds. But it did not happen and before
these interviews she was murdered.
H. BECAUSE the case involves inter-State ramification as Indian
Premier League has participating teams from different states
and that is beyond the ability of Delhi Police to investigate.
I. BECAUSE the case involves international ramifications as
Indian Premier League has huge amount of money involved and
the cricketers belong to different nationalities and IPL has
international acclaim.
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J. BECAUSE the matter is now clearly national and trans-national
and at least three nations‟ citizens may be involved i.e. from
India, UAE and Pakistan.
K. BECAUSE it is necessary to discover the truth or to meet the
ends of justice or to examine complex issues.
L. BECAUSE the faith of the people in Indian legal system needs
to be restored as their confidence is shaken that the wife of a
minister has been murdered in the heart of Delhi and the culprit
has not been punished even after more than three years of the
incident.
M. BECAUSE Shiny Thomas who nursed Sunanda during her stay
in KIMS stated that no marks or discoloration at the time of
discharge was present on her body while the P.M. report no.
77/14 mentions injury no. 10 as an injection mark and no
investigation has been done by the Delhi Police in this regard.
N. BECAUSE in view of the fact that unnecessary delay has been
caused.
O. BECAUSE evidences show that an attempt was made by Dr.
Tharoor through the director of AIIMS to pressurize the HOD
of forensic department AIIMS Dr. Sudhir K. Gupta, in the form
of emails, to tamper with the post-mortem report.
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P. BECAUSE evidence shows that certain powerful colleagues of
Mr. Tharoor in the Union Cabinet tried to influence the
investigation and get a favourable forensic report.
Q. BECAUSE nine months after she was found mysteriously dead
in a hotel room, the Delhi Police woke up to find that some of
the personal belongings, (clothes, footwear, handbag) of
Sunanda Pushkar have been missing all this while. This clearly
shows a botched investigation.
R. BECAUSE it took more than nine months for IO to submit
documents like photographs, statements of witnesses.
S. BECAUSE after nine months of her death, statement of Dr.
Shashi Tharoor was recorded as he was busy in some work
more important than the death of his wife, nor was he
compelled by the Police to give a statement on time as is
usually the case in a murder investigation.
T. BECAUSE even after FBI reports cleanly confirm the opinion
of the Forensic Department of the All India Institute of Medical
Sciences no strict action has been taken yet.
U. BECAUSE deliberate botching of investigation and desire to
protect the influential by the Delhi Police can be seen from the
fact that when the Medical Board and forensic Scientists
undertook the crime scene, fresh evidences were discovered
including broken glass pieces and fluid marks at the crime
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scene, smell of urination from the lower garment of the
deceased and the bed sheet clearly suggests fear of death which
was ignored by the Delhi Police.
V. BECAUSE as the case is totally based on circumstantial
evidence and there are no eye witnesses yet in the case, with the
long passage of time, whatever evidence is there, it will vanish
or be eclipsed. Oral evidence which in most of the cases is vital
to the prosecution, will take a devious or distorted course.
W. That it is necessary to discover the truth or to meet the ends of
justice or to examine complex issues because there has been an
attempt to cause a grave miscarriage of justice.
X. That it is necessary to restore the faith of people in the legal
system as their confidence is shaken because the wife of a
minister has been murdered in the heart of Delhi and the culprit
has not been punished even after more than three years of the
incident.
Y. That at every stage, there is delay and the process of justice is
not allowed to take its normal course, more so, when deliberate
attempts are made to subvert and delay the process.
12. That the Petitioners have not filed any writ petition in any other
court or any other petition of similar nature in any court of law
apart from the instant writ petition before this Hon‟ble Court.
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13. That the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution
of India is the appropriate remedy, and no other equally
efficacious remedy is available to the Petitioner given the far
reaching public interest.
PRAYER:
The Petitioners, therefore, pray that this Hon‟ble Court may be in the
interest of justice
A) Issue an appropriate Writ, Order or Direction, for a court
monitored investigation by constituting a multi-disciplinary SIT
consisting of Intelligence Bureau, Enforcement Directorate, RAW,
Delhi Police and headed by CBI in the murder case of Late Sunanda
Pushkar.
B) In the alternative to prayer „A‟ above, call for a time bound
CBI investigation and
C) Pass any other and further orders as this Hon‟ble Court may
deem fit and proper under the facts and circumstances of this case.
AND FOR THIS ACT OF KINDNESS THE PETITIONERS SHALL
AS IN DUTY BOUND EVER PRAY.
PETITIONERS IN PERSON: DR. SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
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ISHKARAN SINGH BHANDARI
AB 14 Pandara Road, New Delhi 110003;
………Mobile No: 98101 70087
Email: [email protected]
New Delhi
Date
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
ORIGINAL WRIT JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION(CRIMINAL) OF 2017
AND
IN THE MATTER OF A PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
IN THE MATTER OF:
Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Anr. PETITIONERS
Vs
Delhi Police & Others RESPONDENTS
AFFIDAVIT
I, Subramanian Swamy, aged about 76 years, s/o Sitarama
Subramanian, resident of AB 14, Pandara Road, New Delhi 110003,
do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:
1. That I am Petitioner No. 1 in the above matter, and am fully
acquainted with the facts of the instant case and fully competent
to swear thereto.
2. I have filed the present petition as a Public Interest Litigation.
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3. I have gone through the Delhi High Court (Public Interest
Litigation) Rules 2010 and do hereby affirm that the present
Public Interest Litigation is in conformity thereof.
4. I have no personal interest in the litigation and neither myself
nor anybody in whom I am interested would in any manner
benefit from the relief sought in the present litigation save as a
member of the General Public. This Petition is not guided by
self-gain or the gain of any person, institution, body and there is
no motive other than of public interest in filing this petition.
5. I have done whatsoever inquiry/investigation which was in my
power to do, to collect all data /material which was available
and which was relevant for the court to entertain the present
petition. I further confirm that I have not concealed in the
present petition any data/material/information which may have
enabled this court to form an opinion whether to entertain the
petition or not and/or whether to grant any relief or not.
DEPONENT
Verification: Verified at Delhi on this ______ day of _______2017
that the facts stated in paras 1 to 5 hereinabove are true to my personal
knowledge, no part of this Affidavit is false and nothing material is
concealed therefrom.
DEPONENT
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
ORIGINAL WRIT JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION(CRIMINAL) OF 2017
AND
IN THE MATTER OF A PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
IN THE MATTER OF:
Dr. Subramanian Swamy & Anr. PETITIONERS
Vs
Delhi Police & Others RESPONDENTS
AFFIDAVIT
I, Ishkaran Singh Bhandari, aged about 33 years, s/o I. S. Bhandari,
resident of J 205, Saket, New Delhi 110017, do hereby solemnly
affirm and declare as under:
1. That I am Petitioner No. 2 in the above matter, and am fully
acquainted with the facts of the instant case and fully competent
to swear thereto.
2. I have filed the present petition as a Public Interest Litigation.
3. I have gone through the Delhi High Court (Public Interest
Litigation) Rules 2010 and do hereby affirm that the present
Public Interest Litigation is in conformity thereof.
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4. I have no personal interest in the litigation and neither myself
nor anybody in whom I am interested would in any manner
benefit from the relief sought in the present litigation save as a
member of the General Public. This Petition is not guided by
self-gain or the gain of any person, institution, body and there is
no motive other than of public interest in filing this petition.
5. I have done whatsoever inquiry/investigation which was in my
power to do, to collect all data /material which was available
and which was relevant for the court to entertain the present
petition. I further confirm that I have not concealed in the
present petition any data/material/information which may have
enabled this court to form an opinion whether to entertain the
petition or not and/or whether to grant any relief or not.
DEPONENT
Verification: Verified at Delhi on this ______day of _______2017
that the facts stated in paras 1 to 5 hereinabove are true to my personal
knowledge, no part of this affidavit is false and nothing material is
concealed therefrom.
DEPONENT
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