Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Amidst controversy surrounding the death of Sunanda Pushkar, the wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, which was again revived this week, the chief of the AIIMS forensic department on Thursday stuck to his stand.
Dr Sudhir Gupta had earlier this week stirred up a hornet`s nest by claiming he was pressurised to show Sunanda`s death as "natural". As Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan sought a report from AIIMS, the institute, however, denied the allegation made by its senior doctor.
A day after, Dr Gupta said, "I stand by what I said".
"How do they know there is no pressure on me? Who were they to clarify that there is no pressure on me? What was the hurry to call a press conference?," he said on being asked about AIIMS rejecting allegations levelled by him.
"Not only the post-mortem of Sunanda Pushkar but in a number of cases, post-mortem reports were finalised by me as per the principle and practise of medicine and as per its ethical and legal norm. I have never succumbed to any pressure in my life," Gupta told a news agency.
He said all his reports are bonafide.
Rejecting the charge of Gupta, who headed a three- member team that did the post- mortem on the body of Pushkar, who died in mysterious circumstances in a hotel in January this year, AIIMS had said there was no evidence that any pressure from outside was put on him (Sudhir Gupta) to alter the autopsy report.
Sunanda (52) was found dead in a five-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, a day after her twitter spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar over an alleged affair with Tharoor.
The autopsy report had mentioned more than a dozen injury marks on Sunanda`s both hands and an abrasion on her cheek which suggests a "use of blunt force", besides a "deep teeth bite" on the edge of her left palm. Viscera samples were preserved after the autopsy at AIIMS and were sent to CFSL for further tests.
The CFSL report hinted at drug poisoning but its findings were not conclusive enough to file an FIR in the case, according to police.
(With PTI inputs)
