All quiet at Sunanda’s ‘Pushkar Niwas’ in Jammu

JAMMU - It was all quiet Wednesday at the house of retired army officer P.N. Dass, whose daughter Sunanda Pushkar is at the centre of the Indian Premier League (IPL) row for her reported free share in the Kochi franchise. Sources in the neighbourhood said the family has shifted to a relative’s place.

There was a stony silence and the black iron gates of the house ‘Pushkar Niwas’ in sector 5 of Channi Himmat locality were closed, a stark contrast to Tuesday when journalists, who had gathered for a quote or a soundbite, were greeted with abuses from Sunanda’s father, Lt.Col. (retd) Dass.

On Wednesday, no one answered the doorbell and immediate neighbours were reluctant to say anything.

“I have nothing to say,” said a neighbour.

But sources in the neighbourhood said Dass and his wife have shifted to his relatives’ place as they felt they were being harassed by scribes’ queries about Sunanda’s role in the Kochi IPL franchise and her purported links with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.

Sunanda, the Dubai-based businesswoman in the media spotlight, Wednesday hit out at her critics and said the media and others were insulting her by projecting her “as a proxy” for her friend Tharoor.

In a strongly worded statement made available to IANS, she accused the media of ignoring her professional background and international business experience and focussing “obsessively” on her personal life “as if a woman cannot be capable of professional or financial success”.

She said she was issuing the statement “to set the record straight about my role in the public controversy surrounding the Kerala IPL team franchise”.

The controversy erupted after IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi revealed the ownership pattern of Kochi IPL, stating that Sunanda owned free equity in Rendezvous Sports, which is a part owner of IPL Kochi franchise.

Modi also accused Tharoor of asking him not to reveal the ownership details — a charge denied by the minister.