DHAKA: Indian government minister Shashi Tharoor appeared before a magistrate probing the death of his wife days after she accused him of adultery.

In a case that has become an election-year political embarrassment for the ruling Congress party, Tharoor’s wife was found dead in a luxury hotel room in New Delhi after sending tweets that suggested her husband was having an affair with a Pakistan-based journalist.

An autopsy found that Sunanda Pushkar’s death was ‘sudden and unnatural’ and that her body bore injury marks, although doctors said this did not mean the injuries had caused her death.

Tharoor, a high-flying former United Nations diplomat, called for a quick investigation into the death of his wife, saying he hoped this would put an end to rumours about their personal lives.

‘I have finally had a chance to catch up with media reports and am horrified to read the reckless speculation rampant there,’ Tharoor, a junior human resource development minister, wrote in a letter to home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, reports The Straits Times.

‘I pledge my full and unstinting cooperation. Nothing short of truth will end the indignity to which my wife and I are being subjected.’

Later on Sunday, Tharoor, 57, gave his testimony to subdivisional magistrate Alok Sharma, who is leading the inquest into the death of his wife.

There was no word on what he had told the magistrate and he drove away without making any comment to reporters gathered outside the office, his face drawn.

BDST: 1540 HRS, JAN 20, 2014