The life and times of Sunanda Pushkar

Fifty-two-year-old Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shashi Tharoor was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a five-star hotel in south Delhi, January 17 night.

Born in Bomai-Sopore in north Kashmir, Pushkar, was the daughter of retired army officer, Lt. Col. Pushkar Nath Dass and Jaya Dass. She had two brothers, one of whom works for the bank and the other is in the Army. Her father retired from the Army in 1983.

Sunanda Pushkar with Shashi Tharoor during happier times (Photo: Indian Photo Agency)

Her family reportedly migrated to Jammu after militancy started in the region in early 1990’s.

A graduate from Government College for Women, Srinagar (1986-88), Pushkar worked for some time as receptionist at the city’s Centaur hotel.

While still a student at Government College for Women, Srinagar, Pushkar met and married a fellow Kashmiri Pandit, Sanjay Raina, which ended in a divorce. The marriage was against the wishes of the family and didn’t last long.

It broke down a year later as Pushkar allegedly became close to Raina’s close friend, Sujith Menon, a businessman from Kerala.

She obtained divorce from Raina and married Menon with whom she went to Dubai. Menon died in an accident in 1997. She has a 21-year-old son, Shiv Menon, from her second marriage.

According to media reports, Pushkar went to Canada in late 1990’s with her son and a new banker companion.

She returned to Dubai in 2005 with a Canadian passport and worked with a real estate company in Dubai, TECOM Investments. She was also a co-owner of Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), which made a bid for Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

She married Tharoor in August 2010. It was the third wedding for both. Their relationship first came to light during the IPL controversy in the same year.

Shortly before wedding, Tharoor was forced to resign from his first ministerial post after allegations that Pushkar had been given free stake worth Rs.50 crores in the IPL team of Kerala.

Pertinently, couple of days before her death, Pushkar had reportedly said that she was deeply disturbed by an alleged affair her husband was having with a Pakistani journalist, Mahr Tarar. This had also led to bitter arguments between the two women that went public on micro-blogging site, Twitter.