Congress politician Shashi Tharoor has avoided going to jail immediately after he won anticipatory bail from a Patiala House court.
The bail has been granted with two conditions — he cannot go outside India without taking prior permission from the court, and he should not try to influence witnesses or evidence.
The trial of the case, in which Tharoor is accused of ‘abetting’ the suicide of his wife, will start on Saturday.
Tharoor has maintained that his wife did not commit suicide nor did he murder her.
Delhi Police had initially called the case one of murder, but later made it a suicide case after they were not able to corroborate their case.
On 17 January 2014, Sunanda was found dead in room number 345 of the Leela Palace hotel in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi, where the couple were putting up.
Pushkar had been suffering from a mysterious illness before her death, but was unable to get it diagnosed despite have herself examined by the best doctors.
Days before her death, she was examined at Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS). She had apparently been suffering from a rheumatological illness. Rheumatological illnesses are those that affect muscles, joints and bones.
A body of four doctors set up by the government to examine findings by the FBI and AIIMS into the death failed to come up with conclusive results in 2015.
The examination of Pushkar’s internal organs revealed traces of ethyl alcohol, caffeine, acetaminophen and cotinine.
Nevertheless, the AIIMS board “reserved its comment” on specifying the exact poison that killed Pushkar, citing limitations within the viscera report.
Besides being Tharoor’s wife, Pushkar was a successful Indian businesswoman. She was a sales director in the Dubai-based TECOM Investments, and a co-owner of the India-based Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), a cricket franchise in the Indian Premier League.
Two days before her death, a series of intimate messages, supposedly sent by the Pakistani journalist Mehar Tarar to Tharoor, were posted on Tharoor’s Twitter account. The messages reportedly proclaimed Tarar’s love for Tharoor.