New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has been granted regular bail by a Delhi court in the case relating to his wife Sunanda Pushkar's death almost four years ago. The development comes two days after a court had granted him anticipatory bail.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who was summoned as an accused in the case, appeared before the court and informed it that he had already been granted anticipatory bail by a Sessions Court on July 5.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal then directed him to furnish a bail bond of Rs one lakh and one surety of like amount as directed by the Sessions Court and converted the interim relief to regular bail.
Tharoor had moved the court for anticipatory bail apprehending arrest.
Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in the city on the night of January 17, 2014. The couple was staying in the hotel, as the official bungalow of Shashi Tharoor was being renovated at that time.
The court on Saturday handed over a copy of the charge sheet and the documents filed along with it to Tharoor and posted the matter for scrutiny on July 26.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police and the counsel appearing for Tharoor also opposed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking the court's nod to assist it in the case. While Tharoor said Swamy had no locus and he was a stranger to the case, the Delhi Police said the application was not maintainable.
The court, thereafter, asked the BJP leader to hand over a copy of his application to Tharoor.
The Sessions Court had observed that the prosecution's apprehensions that Tharoor may flee offshore or influence witnesses were "without any basis".
The court had also imposed certain conditions on Tharoor, including that he would not tamper with the evidence or leave the country without the court's prior nod.
It had noted that Tharoor, who has not been arrested by the probe agency, had joined the investigation as and when called by the police.
It had also observed that the police had not, at any point of time, alleged that Tharoor tried to flee from justice or shift base to another country.
In a seven-page anticipatory bail order, the court had also noted that Tharoor was a sitting member of the Lok Sabha and used to be the Minister of State for External Affairs in the UPA rule.
In his plea for anticipatory bail, Tharoor had submitted that the charge sheet in the case was filed and the Special Investigation Team had categorically stated that the probe was concluded and his custodial interrogation was not required.
The court had summoned him as an accused in the case on June 5, asking him to appear before it today, observing there was sufficient ground to proceed against him.
Tharoor has been charged under sections 498A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), but has not been arrested in the case.
(With PTI inputs)
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