Sunanda Pushkar didn't commit suicide. She murdered herself

Sunanda Pushkar was murdered. The police chief dropped this bomb on an unsuspecting Delhi on Tuesday, leaving Shashi Tharoor stunned and the rest of us mildly shocked. Mildly, because Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi's statement did not take the story any forward. Pushkar was found dead in her Leela suite on January 17 a year ago, two days after tweeting random quotes on betrayal and a frontal attack on a Pakistani journalist; and a day after a joint statement that all was well between Tharoor and her.

The post-mortem examination had revealed at least 15 bruises and injury marks on her body, including an injection mark. Yet, the police suspected she had died of drug overdose. The AIIMS medical officer claimed he was being pressured to make it look like a case of overdose. Cops later conceded it could be poisoning before the police chief declared it a murder. Cops have been clueless about it from day one till this Tuesday. Before examining Bassi's statement, let us recap the police story.

January 2014: We don't know much. Looks like drug overdose.

July 2014: We don't know much. Looks like suicide.

January 2015: We don't know much. Looks like murder.

Looks like murder because police themselves aren't sure. Now look at Bassi's statement today.

He said: Police have filed a case of murder after an AIIMS report received on December 29 said she died due to poisoning.

What we learnt: It was not drug overdose or suicide, but murder. That should mean there was at least one murderer.

He said: It was not clear whether she had consumed the poison on her own or it was administered forcefully.

What we learnt: It's not clear whether it was a suicide or a murder. But the police filed a murder case anyway. Now that's not really convincing.

He said: It is clear that Sunanda Pushkar's death was not natural. She died due to poisoning.

What we learnt: Sunanda Pushkar's death was not natural. We knew that. She died due to poisoning. That, too. Subramanian Swamy told us in July that she was "forcibly" poisoned. Swamy is not a policeman, so we take Mr Bassi a pinch more seriously than Mr Swamy.

He said: Whether the poison was given orally or injected into her body is being investigated.

What we learnt: Nothing at all. These are the two ways one can be poisoned to death. If it is still being investigated, we haven't figured out which one of the two killed her.

He said: The substance which caused the poisoning is yet to be determined.

What we learnt: It takes more than a year to identify a substance. This raises hope in our hearts that in a decade, the case will be cracked and police will catch the killer(s).

Wait… the killer may already be dead. She might have killed herself. But it wasn't a suicide. Police filed a case of murder because it wasn't a suicide. The police chief also said he wasn't sure if she had not consumed the poison herself. So she might not have committed suicide but poisoned herself to death. It's a case of murder so there is still chance that she murdered herself instead of committing suicide. We will not know because we don't know whether she was suicidal when she was killing herself even if we identify the killer(s).