Sunanda Pushkar's post-mortem begins at AIIMS; Shashi Tharoor out of hospital

January 18, 2014

Sunanda_PushkarNew Delhi, Jan 18: Union minister Shashi Tharoor, who had checked into the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) soon after his wife Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a south Delhi hotel on Friday night, has been discharged after the doctors said he was fine.

Tharoor had complained of uneasiness and chest pain. He was initially admitted to the ICU and was later shifted to a private ward when his condition stabilised. Doctors treating him said he was suffering from hypertension and palpitations and was feeling giddy.

On Saturday morning, Tharoor was discharged. A spokesman of the hospital said, “Everything is normal. The chest pain is normal now and his condition is stable”.

In the meanwhile, a panel of doctors of AIIMS is carrying out post-mortem on Sunanda’s body, which had been brought in on Friday night. Dr DK Sharma, medical superintendent of the hospital, had said the post-mortem would begin after the police submitted inquest report.

The process is likely to end by 2pm and a preliminary report is expected to be submitted later in the day. “But it depends on how clear the findings are. If the medical examination is not conclusive, we will have to wait for the lab reports," Dr Sharma told a news channel.

Police are probing accidental overdose of blood pressure pills as a possible reason behind Sunanda, sources said on Saturday.

Sunanda Pushkar’s creation would held in Delhi’s Lodhi Road crematorium, said Abhinav Kumar, private secretary to the minister. It is likely to take place at around 4pm Saturday.

Earlier, there were reports that body would be brought to Trivandrum, the minister’s constituency, for cremation.

Sunanda, the 52-year-old wife of the Union minister, was found dead on late on Friday at a seven-star hotel in Delhi where the couple had checked in a day earlier.

News of Sunanda's death emerged late on Friday evening, two days after her Twitter spat with a Pakistani journalist over an alleged affair with the minister.

"We will seek information from Twitter about any direct messages exchanged between Sunanda and others," said a police officer investigating the case.

Police sources also said that there was a minor altercation between Sunanda and the minister before they moved into the hotel.

They said that no suicide note was found and it could be possible that Sunanda died of tuberculosis which was diagnosed recently.

Sources also added that she died at least four hours before her body was recovered in the suite bedroom and said rigor mortis suggested that Sunanda died of a possible heart attack.

Sunanda was found dead in the bedroom of The Leela Palace suite number 345 around 8.15pm.

Meanwhile, PTI reported that Sunanda's body was shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for post-mortem examination early on Saturday.

The autopsy would be carried out around 12pm by a team of doctors and the report could be available later in the evening, the news agency said.

Pushkar and Tharoor were at the centre of a raging controversy when reports emerged that she was upset over reported text and tweet messages between her husband and Mehr Tarar.

A joint statement from the couple on Thursday said that they were "happily married" but distressed by "some unauthorised tweets".

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News Network
January 1,2020

New Delhi, Jan 1: In the backdrop of huge losses borne by airlines, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said the government is concerned that more airlines will shut down if predatory pricing continues. "Some predatory pricing is taking place" in airfares, the minister told reporters on Tuesday. Mr Puri however ruled out any plan by the government to regulate airfares. The remarks come amid high competition in the country's aviation sector, struggling against high fuel prices and other operating costs.

"The interesting thing that we have observed is that on Delhi-Mumbai route 20 years ago, the average fare was Rs 5,100. Today, the average fare is Rs 4,600. Some predatory pricing is taking place. It means people are selling tickets below their cost," he said.

"One of our concerns is that if there is predatory pricing, then the airlines will stop functioning. This is not Air India's problem only. Jet Airways got shut down. Before that, it was Kingfisher airline," he said.

IndiGo and SpiceJet - two of the country's biggest airlines - reported losses of Rs 1,062 crore and Rs 463 crore respectively in the second quarter of 2019-20. Other airlines have also reported losses in the quarter that ended on September 30, 2019.

Asked if predatory pricing is the reason for the ill health of the airlines, the minister said, "No, there are many reasons... Predatory pricing is one of the factors. But the profitability of an airline is dependent on (a) number of things."

Asked if the trend of predatory pricing has come down after regular discussion with the airlines, he said, "Yes, absolutely."

"It is (a) constant battle. An ideal situation from an airline's point of view is that they grow and they are also able to charge more fares. What fares they charge is their business. Our advice to them is to charge realistic fares," he added. "It should not be too high. And it is not in your business interests if you are imposing predatory fares."

The minister also said that the government is not planning to regulate fares. "No regulation. It has to be done within deregulation system.... If I put a cap on fare, the airline will start charging that cap only... that cap will become the normal fare... So, within a deregulated structure, we have to bring about an equilibrium," the minister said.

"Government, periodically, at my level or at secretary''s level, we sit down with the main aircraft operators and tell them it is in your interest not to allow such practices which undermine the civil aviation sector."

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News Network
April 11,2020

New Delhi, Apr 11: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with chief ministers, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday urged CMs of states where the party is in power to unanimously demand for transfer of cash to every poor family.

He said the poor have lost their jobs and have exhausted their savings. They are now standing in lines to get free food, the former Union finance minister said.

Chidambaram said remonetising the poor would cost only Rs 65,000 crore, which is economically viable.

"Chief ministers Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, V Narayanasami, Uddhav Thackeray and E Palaniswani should tell the prime minister today that just as LIVES are important LIVELIHOOD of the poor is important, he tweeted.

"The poor have lost their jobs or self-employment in the last 18 days. They have exhausted their meagre savings. Many are standing in line for food," Chidambaram said.

Can the state stand by and watch them go hungry," he asked, adding that chief ministers should demand that cash be transferred to every poor family immediately.

"Remonetise the poor should be their unanimous demand," Chidambaram said.

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News Network
January 1,2020

New Delhi, Jan 1: Newly-appointed Chief of the Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat on Wednesday said the armed forces stay away from politics and work as per the directives of the government of the day, remarks that come amid allegations that the forces were being politicised.

Gen Rawat also said that his focus as CDS will be to integrate the efforts of the three services and to work as a team.

"We keep ourselves away from politics. We act according to the directives of the government of the day," he said.

Gen Rawat said his focus will be to ensure best and optimal use of resources allocated to the three services.

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