NEW DELHI — An Indian court on Wednesday cleared an influential politician of all charges in connection with the death of his wife, in a case long criticized by the country’s main opposition party as politically motivated. Shashi Tharoor, a member of Parliament from the opposition Indian National Congress, was charged with cruelty and abetment to suicide in 2018, four years after his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. The charges were dismissed by a court in Delhi, effectively setting Mr. Tharoor free in a case that riveted India’s political and media circles for years and put the details of his private life in the spotlight. A lawyer for Mr. Tharoor argued that Ms. Pushkar’s cause of death had still not been clearly established, undermining the abetment to suicide charge.

Source: New York Times August 18, 2021 14:37 UTC