A significant development has emerged in the mysterious death of actor-model Twisha Sharma in Bhopal on Sunday, as the Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the incident. The top court will hear a suo motu matter on Monday over the alleged irregularities surrounding the probe into her death at her matrimonial home in MP’s capital Bhopal. 

The case, titled “In Re: Alleged institutional bias and procedural discrepancies in the unnatural death of a young girl at her matrimonial home,” has been listed before a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi. 

Sources familiar with the development said the top court took cognisance based on media reports and ‘other attending circumstances,’ signalling growing judicial concern over the handling of the probe. 

Details of the case

Twisha Sharma (32) was found dead at her in-laws’ house in Bhopal’s Katara Hills area on May 12 this year, barely five months after she got hitched to advocate Samarth Singh. She was the daughter-in-law of retired district judge Giribala Singh. 

Sharma’s family has levelled serious allegations against her husband and mother-in-law, accusing them of dowry harassment, mental and physical torture and murder. However, the accused have denied the allegations and maintained that Sharma died by suicide. 

Notably, the case rapidly snowballed into a high-profile legal and public controversy and questions were raised over the police probe. The case has also drawn criticism over alleged delays in registering the FIR, scrutiny over CCTV footage and concerns regarding the handling of forensic evidence. 

Absconding husband surrenders in court, sent to police custody

Earlier, the National Commission for Women (NCW) had taken suo motu cognisance of the issue, terming Sharma’s death ‘suspicious’ and seeking a detailed report from local authorities. Meanwhile, Sharma’s husband Samarth, who had been on the run for 10 days after the FIR was registered, surrendered before Bhopal police in the court on Friday. A local court on Saturday remanded him to seven days of police custody and ordered to seize his passport. 

Bhopal Police Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said that the cops would question him regarding the night of the incident, family disputes, digital communication records and his whereabouts during the period he was on the run. 

AIIMS Delhi team set to conduct second post-mortem

In a parallel development, a four-member medical board from AIIMS Delhi arrived in Bhopal on Saturday night to conduct Twisha’s second post-mortem, following directives issued by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Chief of Forensic Medicine at AIIMS Delhi, Dr Sudhir Gupta, said that the panel includes senior specialists, including a female doctor.

Simultaneously, the MP government has moved the Jabalpur bench of the MP High Court, seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to Samarth’s mother, Giribala Singh.