Sunanda Pushkar, died of poisoning, a report by an All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) panel confirmed on Friday.

BJP member Subramanian Swamy on Saturday claimed that the FBI found the presence of heart arrest injectable poison Lidocaine in the body of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of former Union minister and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. He questioned Delhi Police Chief BS Bassi that why he was silent about the matter and did not reveal it to the media.

    Police Commissioner is not telling the media that the FBI found the presence of heart arrest injectable poison lidocaine in Sunanda body.
    — Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) January 16, 2016

Sunanda Pushkar, died of poisoning, a report by an All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) panel confirmed on Friday.
The 43-page report, submitted to the Delhi police, also upheld the findings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s forensics report.

In February 2015, the viscera samples were sent to the FBI lab in Washington DC to determine the kind of poison that killed her, following contrary reports from the AIIMS and the Delhi police. They differed over whether she was poisoned or died from an antidepressant overdose.

Delhi police chief BS Bassi told the press that the cause of death was "unnatural". "The current investigation of the final viscera report submitted to the Delhi police states that Sunanda Pushkar did not die a natural death. That is for certain. It was an unnatural death," Bassi said.

Pushkar was found dead inside her suite at a five-star hotel here in January 2014, a day after she was involved in a spat with Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar on Twitter over the latter's alleged affair with Tharoor.

The Forensics and Toxicology department at AIIMS, the country's premier medical facility, said that the cause of death was poisoning, and that there were more than one chemical that had been identified. However, the names of the chemicals were not revealed.

Sources said that the AIIMS report noted that the medical board had given poisoning as the cause of death in the column of opinion after the examination of Puskhar's body on January 18, 2014.

The FBI was sent samples of the stomach, spleen, liver, kidney and urine. Sources said that their analysis endorsed the cause of death, saying that the same poison was present in all of them. It endorsed the AIIMS post-mortem report.

The government on Friday constituted a committee headed by film-maker Shyam Benegal to look into the revamp of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

The committee, which will submit its report in two months, also includes film-maker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Piyush Pandey and film critic Bhawana Somaaya. National Film Development Council managing director Nina Lath Gupta and joint secretary (films) Sanjay Murthy will also be part of the committee.

The government said in a statement that the panel has been formed “in sync with the vision” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The recommendations of the committee are expected to provide a holistic framework and enable those tasked with the work of certification of films to discharge their responsibilities keeping in view this framework, the statement said.
“During their deliberations, the committee will be expected to take note of the best practices in various parts of the world, especially where the film industry is given sufficient and adequate space for creative and aesthetic expression,” the statement said.

The committee will recommend broad guidelines, procedures under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, and rules for the benefit of the chairperson and other members of the screening committee. The staffing pattern of the CBFC will also be looked into in an effort to recommend a framework which would provide efficient, transparent user-friendly services, the statement added.

The announcement on Friday came within days of information and broadcasting (I&B) minister Arun Jaitley saying that the “time has come” to have a re-look at the functioning of the CBFC as he would like the Censor Board to be “controversy- free”.

Film-makers have complained of arbitrary objections and cuts sought by the Censor Board in the recent past, including criticism for cuts in the latest James Bond movie Spectre for screening in India. A list of banned “cuss” words, circulated by CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani had also become a subject of controversy.