New Delhi, January 18
A medical board of forensic experts constituted by the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to probe the cause of Sunanda Pushkar’s death today said her post-mortem examination suggested an “unnatural, sudden death”. The body bore visible injury marks, the doctors said.

Police sources said it could be a case of drug overdose and not suicide, though a conclusive statement to this effect would be made once the viscera is examined by experts.

Pushkar, wife of Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in a hotel room last evening.

Forensic experts said they suspected unnatural causes behind Pushkar’s death. Sources said they had preserved her biological samples, which will be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Delhi for examination.

“Biological samples of the deceased are kept under two conditions - first, when the autopsy is obscure and experts need to exclude unnatural factors as the cause of death; and second, when autopsy raises suspicion as in the current case. The biological samples will be sent for histopathology and toxicology examination to the forensic science laboratory in Delhi and the report should arrive in three days. We will finish our examination by then,” an AIIMS source said. Doctors further said the medical history of the deceased had been sought from the magistrate probing the case.

“We have asked for her medical records to look at her medical history and correlate it with the findings established today. Her prescriptions would have to be examined,” the source said.