Indian minister’s wife body taken to hospital for autopsy

The body of the wife of an Indian minister, found dead in a luxury hotel days after accusing her husband on Twitter of being unfaithful, was moved to a hospital on Saturday for an autopsy.

The body was discovered by human resources minister Shashi Tharoor after he returned from a Congress party meeting late on Friday, his private secretary Abhinav Kumar said.

The death of Sunanda Pushkar, 52, came as a tragic twist in a tale of apparent marital strife that embroiled a Pakistani journalist and played out on Twitter in the full public glare.

"She seemed to be sleeping in a normal way but later it was found she was dead," Kumar told reporters late on Friday.

Tharoor was admitted on Saturday to the All India Institute of Medical Science, where his wife's body was being held, after suffering "a minor cardiac event", initial media reports said.

Indian newspapers splashed the death on their front pages. "Soon after Twitter war, Sunanda Pushkar found dead in Delhi hotel," said the tabloid Mail Today in a headline.

The drama began late Wednesday when a curious series of messages appeared on the Twitter account of the suave thrice-married Tharoor, a former high-flying UN diplomat, novelist and key government spokesman.

They showed private exchanges purportedly between the 57-year-old minister (@shashitharoor) and Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar (@mehrtarar), in which she professed her love for him and he said his wife had discovered their relationship. http://www.timesofoman.com/News/Article-28395.aspx