Sources tell TV channel Indian minister Shashi Tharoor may be in the clear

NEW DELHI - Indian minister Shashi Tharoor has been cleared of any involvement in the death of his wife, police sources told a TV channel.

Mr Tharoor, 57, has been cleared based on testimony by a witness who saw Ms Sunanda Pushkar alive two hours after Mr Tharoor had left the five-star hotel in Delhi where the 52-year-old was found dead on Friday, sources said, according to NDTV.

Sources added that the physical injuries found on Ms Pushkar's body were unrelated to her death.

Indian media reported on Monday that Ms Pushkar could have died of a drug overdose.

Mr Tharoor discovered his wife's body when he returned to their hotel suite after a Congress party meeting last Friday.

A few days earlier, Ms Pushkar had given a public statement saying she wanted to expose a "rip-roaring affair" between her husband and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, 45.

Doctors who conducted an autopsy said last Saturday that the death was "sudden and unnatural". They also noted "certain injury marks" on her.

The final autopsy report was handed to a magistrate looking into Ms Pushkar's death by a team of three doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Monday.

While details of the report were not made public, media reports said the autopsy ruled that Ms Pushkar could have overdosed on drugs after two strips of anti- depressants were discovered in the hotel suite where she was found last week.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said the probe had been expedited but did not say when it would be completed.

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