Death of Shashi Tharoor wife ‘unnatural’ - doctors

THE death of an Indian ­government minister’s wife was “sudden” and “unnatural”, a post-mortem examination has revealed.

Shashi Tharoor: accused of affair. Picture: Getty

The wife of minister Shashi Tharoor was found dead in a New Delhi hotel room on Friday days after she accused her husband of adultery.

Doctors said there were “injury marks” on Sunanda Pushkar’s body.

The couple became embroiled in a row on Wednesday after Twitter messages suggested he was having an affair.

Police have launched an inquest into the death of the junior human resource development minister’s wife.

Sudhir Gupta, head of the forensic sciences department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, yesterday said it would take a couple of days to determine the precise cause of the 52-year-old’s death.

The scandal comes at a crucial time for India’s ruling Congress Party, as it prepares for an election due by May.

On Friday, the party ann­ounced that Rahul Gandhi, 41, would lead the Congress election campaign in the expectation that the charisma of a family that has supplied three prime ministers would keep voters loyal.

Pushkar, Tharoor’s wife of four years, had been embroiled in a row with Pakistan-based journalist Mehr Tarar, whom she accused, in a series of Twitter posts, of pursuing her husband.

Tarar has denied any involvement with the minister.