Sunanda had expressed desire to die, police tell court
New Delhi, May 28: In an email sent to Congress Lok Sabha member and her husband Shashi Tharoor, Sunanda Pushkar had expressed her desire to die, Delhi Police told a court here on Monday.
Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that there was sufficient evidence to proceed against Tharoor.
The prosecutor informed the court that Pushkar was depressed and, in an email, written on January 8, 2014 to Tharoor, she had expressed her desire to die.
"I have no will to live. All I pray for is death," prosecutor Shrivastava read the relevant line of the email written by Pushkar to Tharoor.
He told the court that the cause of her death was poisoning.
After hearing the submission, the court set June 5 to deliver its order on accepting the chargesheet against Tharoor.
On May 14, the Delhi Police chargesheeted Tharoor under Sections 306 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to abetment to suicide and cruelty to wife, which entails a jail term that could extend up to 10 years.
Pushkar, 51, was found dead in her suite at Leela Hotel in south Delhi on January 17, 2014, days after she alleged that her husband was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
