Sunanda Pushkar: Court dismisses Subramanian Swamy plea to bring Delhi Police vigilance report on record

A Delhi Court presided by Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj today dismissed an application by Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Subramanian Swamy seeking to bring the Delhi Police Vigilance Report on the alleged evidence tampering in the Sunanda Pushkar case on record..The order passed today reads,.“…Neither the applicant has locus standi to file this application nor this court can give any direction for further investigation in the matter as the cognizance has already been taken and accused as already been summoned to face trial. Resultantly, the application is dismissed.”.Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava informed the Court that “all shortcomings” in the investigation are already in the knowledge of the prosecution..“We will argue at the time of framing of charges”, he said..In his application before the Court, Subramanian Swamy had alleged that people had gone to “extraordinary extent” to “make sure that the evidence was destroyed”..Therefore, Swamy had contended that the Public Prosecutor ought to have taken the Vigilance Report alluding to evidence tampering on record..Appearing for the accused, Shashi Tharoor, Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa had sought the dismissal of Swamy’s application..Pahwa argued that in terms of Section 301 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, only the victim or his/her guardian has the right to participate in the trial..Section 301 reads:.Appearance by Public Prosecutors..(1) The Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of a case may appear and plead without any written authority before any Court in which that case is under inquiry, trial or appeal..(2) If in any such case, any private person instructs a pleader to prosecute any person in any Court, the Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor in charge of the case shall conduct the prosecution, and the pleader so instructed shall act therein under the directions of the Public Prosecutor or Assistant Public Prosecutor, and may, with the permission of the Court, submit written arguments after the evidence is closed in the case..Pahwa also denied all the allegations on the destruction of evidence. Additionally, Delhi Police had also argued that Swamy’s application was not maintainable in law..Subramanian Swamy had moved the Court seeking to be made a party in the matter earlier this year. The Court had reserved its order in the application filed by Swamy on May 4..The case was committed to the Sessions Court for trial by ACMM Samar Vishal on February 4. Pushkar was found dead in her suite at a five-star hotel situated in New Delhi in January 2014. Husband of Sunanda Pushkar and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is the sole accused in the matter. He is charged for abetment of suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and committing cruelty under Section 498A, IPC. He was granted regular bail on July 7 after appearing before the Court pursuant to the summons issued against him..Tharoor was represented by Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa with Advocate Gaurav Gupta and Tushar Agarwal..Read the order:.Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.