The Delhi police on Saturday pushed for murder charge against senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor in connection with the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar. However, the murder charge is being pushed alternatively to the charge of abetment of suicide. Concluding his arguments, Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava prayed to the court, "Charges against Tharoor be framed under section 498A (cruelty), 306 (abetment of suicide) or in an alternative section 302 (murder)."

Opposing the same, Tharoor's counsel Vikas Pahwa said, "Now, my friend is becoming adventurous, his inferences are now beyond the charge sheet. In four years, they couldn't even prove the cause of death." Special CBI judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar has now posted the matter for October 17, as the next date of hearing, when the defence will commence its arguments. Reacting to the push to press murder charges in the case, Pahwa said it was "absurd" and "preposterous". "The prosecutor's arguments are contrary to the bare reading of the charge sheet. The charges pressed are absurd and preposterous," said Pahwa.