Eminent forensic scientist P. Chandrasekharan, who served as the principal scientific investigator in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has said the death of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, was “accidental and self-induced” and caused by “the prolonged intake of acetaminophen while consuming alcohol.”

In a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Mr. Chandrasekharan slammed the forensic report prepared by AIIMS. “I have examined the 14-page report and am astonished at what I have noticed.”

He said it was unethical for the AIIMS Board to attach a list of poisons and to say that they could not be detected in Indian labs. The presiding doctor was perhaps unaware that the 30-odd Central and State Forensic Science laboratories were well equipped to do all types of analysis, Mr. Chandrasekharan wrote.

Mr. Chandrasekharan said he was concerned at the damage done to AIIMS’s reputation and urged Dr. Harsh Vardhan to take “prompt remedial action.” The AIIMS board, which had concluded in its September 27 report that Ms. Pushkar had died of poisoning, is likely to submit another report after receiving some more information from the Delhi Police.