The Delhi High Court refuses to pass an interim order on Shashi Tharoor's plea to restrain Arnab Goswami, channel from airing news on Sunanda Pushkar's death.

In May, the Congress MP had filed a civil defamation suit against Arnab Goswami and his news channel Republic TV in the Delhi High Court claiming damages and compensation of Rs 2 crore for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him while airing news relating to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.

The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram has also sought a direction from the high court to restrain the TV channel from broadcasting any show relating to the death of his wife till the investigation is completed by the Delhi Police.


The Congress leader, in his lawsuit, has made Goswami and Arg Outlier Media Asianet News Private Limited, the company which owns Republic TV, as parties.

He has referred to the broadcasting of news items from May 8 to May 13 when the TV channel claimed to air an expose connected to the death of his wife.

The lawsuit filed through advocates Muhammad Ali Khan and Gaurav Gupta denounced the news, claiming that the recordings were released in a sensational manner so as to appease the viewers and created a non-existing controversy by maligning his public life and public image.

"It is not out of place to say that defendants (Goswami and TV channel) broadcast news reports and alleged expose' which were intended to lead the viewers to believe that the deceased was murdered either by plaintiff (Tharoor) or at the instance of the plaintiff.

"Such a broadcast clearly has the potential of adversely impacting the ongoing investigation into the death of the deceased," the plea said, while seeking to restrain from "maligning and defaming him in any manner" by reporting or broadcasting the news relating to the death of Pushkar.