Minister Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar, who was found dead in a hotel in New Delhi Friday, was seriously ill, according to a former diplomat and close friend of the minister.

 

 T.P. Sreenivasan, who hails from the state capital and has been a diplomat for more than three decades, told reporters here that Tharoor had informed him of his wife's illness.

 

 "She had undergone treatment in France recently and after check-ups it was found that she had some serious health issues and he was a worried man. I pacified him after hearing it," said Sreenivasan.

 

 Reports said the couple had visited a leading private hospital here recently and certain tests were conducted on Pushkar.

 

 Sources told IANS that she was identified with suspected systemic lupus erythematosus (connective tissue disorder) and this is a disease which has no definite treatment.

 

 She had also undergone colonoscopy.

 

 A doctor at the same hospital said he saw the couple quarrelling playfully.

 

 Reports also said Pushkar had an appointment at the hospital Jan 20.

 

 The couple were married at Tharoor's 200-year-old ancestral home in Palakkad in August 2010.