Drug overdose cause of Sunanda's death: autopsy report

January 20, 2014
New Delhi, Jan 20: Drug overdose appears to be the cause of the mysterious death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, last Friday, according to the findings of doctors of AIIMS, who had conducted the autopsy on her.

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"Drug overdose", which  in other words could be called drug poisoning, has been cited as the cause of death in the conclusion by doctors, according to AIIMS sources.

The autopsy report was submitted in the evening to Alok Sharma, Sub Divisional Magistrate, who is holding the inquest proceedings under the provisions of the Cr Procedural Code.

Refusing to disclose the details of the autopsy report, he said he would examine it along with the statements of various people including Tharoor and Sunanda's brother and other evidence.

"On this basis I will conclude what was the cause of death and submit a report to the police whether a case is made out or not surrounding the death and whether police should carry out further investigation or not," Sharma said.

Accompanied by some police officials, the SDM went to the hotel. Police officials said they were awaiting the SDM's report before they could decide on their future action.

The post-mortem was conducted on Saturday by a three- member team of doctors headed by Dr Sudhir K Gupta, who had said that the death of 52-year-old Sunanda in a five star hotel suite was sudden and unnatural.

Presence of alcohol has also been ruled out in the post- mortem report which has recorded over a dozen injury marks on her face and her hands, the sources said ruling out the injuries being a cause of the fatality.

Police sources said two strips of anti-depressant drug alprozalem, commonly known as alprax, were found in the hotel suite where she was found dead on Friday evening.

At least 27 tablets may have been consumed by her, probably in a short time, the sources said adding evidence of it was available from the emptied strips.

Medical experts say that consumption of alprozalem tablets in large quantities at a time hampers functioning of the brain and leads to a comatose situation.

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News Network
December 6,2025

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With IndiGo flight disruptions impacting thousands of passengers, the airline on Saturday said that it will offer full waiver on all cancellations/reschedule requests for travel bookings between December 5, 2025 and December 15, 2025.

Earlier in the day, the civil aviation ministry had directed the airline to complete the ticket refund process for the cancelled flights by Sunday evening, as well as ensure baggage separated from the travellers are delivered in the next two days.

In a post on X, titled 'No questions asked', IndiGo wrote, "In response to recent events, all refunds for your cancellations will be processed automatically to your original mode of payment."

"We are deeply sorry for the hardships caused," it further added.

Several passengers, however, complained of not getting full refund as promised by the airline.

Netizens have shared screenchots of getting charged for airline cancellation fee and convenience fee.

"Please tell me why u have did this airline cancellation charges when u say full amount will be refunded (sic)," a user wrote sharing a screenshot of the refund page.

"Well, but you have still debited the convenience charges," wrote another.

Passengers have also raised concerns about the "cancel" option being disabled on the IndiGo app. "First enable the 'Cancel' button on your App & offer full refund on tickets cancelled by customers between the said dates," wrote a user.

A day after the country's largest airline, IndiGo, cancelled more than 1,000 flights and caused disruptions for the fifth day on Saturday, the ministry said that any delay or non-compliance in refund processing will invite immediate regulatory action.

The refund process for all cancelled or disrupted flights must be completed by 8 pm on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement.

"Airlines have also been instructed not to levy any rescheduling charges for passengers whose travel plans were affected by cancellations," it said.

On Saturday, more than 400 flights were cancelled at various airports.

IndiGo has also been instructed to set up dedicated passenger support and refund facilitation cells.

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