Overdose of medicines could have led to Sunanda Tharoor's death: report

An ''accidental'' overdose of medicines could have led to the death of Sunanda Tharoor, wife of minister of state for human resource development Shashi Tharoor, said a report, even as Sunanda's autopsy began at the AIIMS at noon today.

Sunanda, who died at the Leela Hotel in the capital on Friday (See: Media agog as Sashi Tharoor's wife dies after Twitter battle), will be cremated after 4:00 pm in Delhi. 

According to reports, Sunanda and Shashi Tharoor, who had checked into the Leela Hotel on Thursday as their home was being painted, were due to check out on Saturday morning. Some reports claim the couple had checked into two separate suites - 342 and 345.

The incidence comes only a day after a Twitter row broke out between Pushkar and a Pakistani woman journalist, over the latter having an affair with her husband Sashi Tharoor.

The Delhi Police on Friday night questioned Tharoor, his driver as well as his personal assistant. According to reports, the minister's staff reportedly told the sub-divisional magistrate that Sunanda had not eaten for the past two days and was smoking and consuming alcohol.

According to reports, police will also check the BlackBerry Messages (BBMs) exchanged between Sunanda Pushkar and Shashi Tharoor.

Dr Sudhir Gupta, the head of forensic sciences at AIIMS, said the hospital's director has constituted a three-member panel of doctors to conduct the post-mortem of Sunanda Pushkar. In a statement, AIIMS said autopsy on Sunanda Pushkar's body will be conducted shortly.

A three-member doctors' team began Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor's post-mortem at AIIMS post 12 in the noon. The process will be completed by 2 pm and the report will be submitted to the sub-divisional magistrate.

The former diplomat-turned-minister and some of his close friends, however, claimed that the lady was seriously ill and has been under treatment for various ailments.

TP Sreenivasan, a diplomat for more than three decades, told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that Tharoor had informed him of his wife's illness.

"She had undergone treatment in France recently and after check-ups it was found that she had some serious health issues and he was a worried man. I pacified him after hearing it," said Sreenivasan.

Meanwhile, Dr Vijay Raghavan, vice chairman of Thiruvanthapuram's KIMS Hospital where Sunanda had undergone a medical check-up earlier this month, has said that Sunanda Tharoor did not suffer from any life-threatening disease.

Authorities at KIMS Hospital said the doctors, however, did not take any immediate decision on the course of treatment or medicines to be given. Instead, they decided to wait till all results are obtained and then meet again and decide on the future course.

Shashi Tharoor, who was hospitalised after he complained of chest pain, has now been discharged from AIIMS. Tharoor was initially admitted to the ICU and was later shifted to a ward at the All India Institute of Medical Science.