Sunanda: Has she paid the price of being a celebrity?

Moneycontrol Bureau

She had come suddenly, she dissappered suddenly. Sunanda Pushakar (junior HRD minister Shashi Tharoor's wife of three-and-a-half years) was found dead in a hotel room on Friday night. Sunanda had checked into Hotel Leela Room No 345 due to renovation work at her home.

Also Read: Sunanda Pushkar found dead in Delhi's Leela Hotel

The incident came as shock because barely 12 hours before both Sunanda and Shashi has issued a joint statement saying all was well in their relationship.

The initial autopsy report, conducted by AIIMS, said it to be 'unnatural sudden death'. Though the report said there were no traces of posion in her blood, injury marks were discovered on her body. The full autopsy details are expected in two days, said AIIMS.

According to Times of India, Sunanda has complained of poor health and depression. She was diagnosed with Lupus and stomach TB for which she was being treated.

Sunanda Pushakar was in the news following an ugly online spat with Pakistani Journalist Mehr Tarar. On January 15, various intimate messages started getting posted on Tharoor's verified twitter account. Those were the supposed messages sent to Tharoor by Tarar declaring her love for him. Tharoor went into damage control mode saying his twitter account has been hacked and he is deactivating it to sort out the issue.

All hell broke loose when his wife Sunanda said that it was she who had posted the messages to show how Tarar is having an affair and 'stalking' her husband. This followed a volley of allegations and counter-allegations to the extent that Sunanda called Tarar an ISI agent.

She even refreshed the controversy surrounding the IPL Kochi team.

Sunanda came into limelight during the 2010 Indian Premiere League. Then a 'good friend' of Tharoor, Sunanda was the co-owner of Rendezvous Sports World, the consortium that bought the Kochi team. It was said that Tharoor had used her as a shield for collecting Rs 70 crore and helping the Kochi owners get their IPL team, Kochi Tuskers.

Following the controversy, Sunanda finally gave up her stake and Tharoor resigned as junior minister of external affairs. Nevertheless, the duo got married in August 2010.

Sunanda told Economic Times that she made a mistake by keeping quiet on her husband's role in the franchise deal. "I took upon myself the crimes of this man during the IPL," she said. However, she later retracted on her comment. She also told NDTV the Congress had asked her not to comment on the IPL scandal.

BJP PM-candidate Narendra Modi at a recent rally had taken a potshot at Tharoor and Sunanda referring to the IPL fiasco. He called Sunanda Tharoor's 'Rs 50-crore' wife. To which Tharoor tweeted, defending his wife, "My wife is worth a lot more than your imaginary 50 crores. She is priceless. But you need2be able2love some1 2understand that."