Dr Swamy links Sunanda’s death to ‘Oil for Food’ scam money

Interview

* Seeks quizzing of former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in the matter

By Kartik Lokhande 
Dr Subramanian Swamy, senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and noted lawyer, gave a new twist to the controversy over death of former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar. Swamy said that Sunanda was ‘killed professionally’ to silence her from revealing ‘shocking’ things about ‘Oil for Food’ scam.

Dr Subramanian Swamy (Pic by Satish Raut)

Swamy was talking to ‘The Hitavada’ during his visit to the city on Saturday afternoon. Already, he has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking institution of a probe through Special Investigation Team (SIT) into Sunanda’s death. “Even the changed autopsy report of AIIMS says that Sunanda’s death was unnatural. Professional killers finished her in order to stop her from making revelations about involvement of money earned from ‘Oil for Food’ scam being pumped into Indian Premier League (IPL),” he said.
Elaborating further, Dr Swamy said that there were various questions that pointed towards murder of Sunanda Pushkar. CCTV cameras outside Sunanda’s home were out-of-order on the fateful day she was found dead. Besides, her body had teeth mark, injection marks, and injuries and still it was cremated within 24 hours of the incident. “Further, Shashi Tharoor sent an e-mail to AIIMS Director on how the findings of autopsy report should be. All these indicate only one thing that Sunanda was killed,” he alleged.
Dr Swamy, who is known for exposing various scams including 2G spectrum scam, does not stop at this. According to him, Sunanda was killed because she was to make certain revelations about involvement of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. “The amount of Rs 450 crore invested in Tharoor-Sunanda’s IPL team Kochi Tuskers, came from Vadra. Now, where did this money come from? It was the money earned through ‘Oil for Food’ scam. Shashi Tharoor knew who had taken the money and he was instrumental in destroying that evidence using his influence with the United Nations. However, Sunanda came to know about it from Tharoor and she was to tell this to journalists. That is why, she was killed,” he alleged. Dr Swamy also demanded quizzing of the then Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde as his ministry was tapping the phone of a few journalists.
The ‘demolition man’ of Indian politics, Dr Swamy is very firm on his opinions. As far as IPL format of cricket is concerned, he feels that it involves ‘money laundering’. He went a step ahead and claimed that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was involved in betting and money laundering in this game. Asked about the controversy over N Srinivasan, the controversial chief of BCCI and now elected as the first Chairman of International Cricket Council, Swamy feels that Srinivasan had ruffled feathers of many influential persons in the arena and they did not like the centre of cricket being shifted to Chennai from Mumbai. “Hence, there were allegations. But, nothing has been proved so far against him. The only thing is his son-in-law got engaged in betting,” he added.

‘UPA sacrificed
security of nation’
The former President of Janata Party, Dr Subramanian Swamy is known for his genius in grasp of various issues including national security and China’s growing influence along Indian borders.
“China could create its influence in countries around India because Congress-led UPA Government sacrificed national security by giving more importance to regional parties and domestic issues like Tamil interest. “The Tamil or any regional interest should be subservient to the national interest. But, as UPA thought more about regional interests than national interest, China could create its influence over Sri Lanka. Now, we need to change policy on Sri Lanka,” he said.
To control China, the economist-lawyer suggested that India should forge stronger alliance with countries like Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Korea etc. Even if India manages to strike a deal with Indonesia to keep a close vigil on Malacca Strait, China can be controlled as most of her trade is through this route, he added. Besides, China’s economy is based on processing of semi-processed goods from countries like Japan, Taiwan, Korea. “If we welcome these countries to India and open the processing avenues, by rooting out low-level corruption. That will weaken China and strengthen India,” he felt.

‘AAP is a fraud’
Dubbing the rise of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as nothing but a purposeful attempt to stall the growth of BJP, Swamy said that AAP was a ‘fraud’. As far as Congress’ rout in Lok Sabha elections is concerned, he quipped, “This was only a dress rehearsal of Hindutva tide.” Congress as a party cannot do anything now unless it sheds the dynasty, he added.

05-07-2014