CBI takes over Twisha Sharma case; Rs 2 lakh demand right after wedding from mother-in-law mentioned in fresh FIR

Twisha Sharma was found dead under unnatural circumstances at her matrimonial home in the Katara Hills area of Bhopal on May 12, just five months after marrying advocate Samarth Singh. Her family has fiercely alleged that she was driven to her death by systematic domestic abuse and relentless financial demands from her in-laws.

More from India

Also read | Twisha Sharma, Deepika Nagar: The tragic tale of 2 Noida women, who died after facing ‘dowry harassment’

'Vidai' demand: Mother-in-law accused of extortion

The re-registered CBI FIR places emphasis on the role of Twisha’s mother-in-law, Giribala Singh, a retired district and sessions judge who recently served as the Chairperson of the Bhopal District Consumer Commission.

According to the formal complaint lodged by the victim's family, the pattern of extortion began at the very inception of the marriage.

The FIR alleges that during the Vidai (a traditional post-wedding send-off ritual), Giribala Singh explicitly demanded an immediate cash payment of Rs 2 lakh from Twisha's parents. The family asserted that their inability to continuously satisfy the ongoing financial demands of the mother-in-law and husband resulted in escalating physical and mental cruelty toward Twisha.

The involvement of a retired high-ranking judicial officer has turned the case into a flashpoint, with the victim's family accusing local authorities of initial procedural delays and alleging that Giribala Singh used her institutional network to influence the initial post-mortem and manipulate residential CCTV footage.

Also read | Twisha Sharma death case: Who are her advocate husband & ex-judge mother-in-law?

The interrogation: What the husband told the SIT

Before the formal transfer of files to the CBI headquarters, the Bhopal Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) subjected Twisha’s husband, Samarth Singh, to an intensive three-hour interrogation and executed a two-hour physical recreation of the crime scene at the Katara Hills residence.

During his final sessions with local investigators, Samarth Singh reportedly attempted to aggressively dismantle the prosecution's narrative, calling the allegations of dowry harassment as "imagination and presumptions."

Singh denied demanding money, asserting instead that he and his mother had online transaction records proving they transferred over Rs 7 lakh into Twisha’s personal bank account over the course of their five-month marriage.

Investigators focused heavily on the timeline of the couple's marital deterioration. Singh claimed that their relationship remained entirely normal until March, when severe friction arose after Twisha learned about her pregnancy. He told the SIT that her subsequent abortion left her in a state of deep emotional and psychological distress, which he claims drove her to suicide.

Police sources noted that Singh repeatedly attempted to mislead the team regarding his whereabouts during a ten-day period when he was actively evading arrest. The SIT has since seized his laptop, mobile phone, and passport to recover deleted WhatsApp exchanges and call logs.

Supreme Court demands free and fair probe

The intervention of the central agency follows intense scrutiny by the apex court. A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant took suo motu cognisance of the matter amid public outrage over potential institutional bias in the state's initial handling of the case.

Expressing deep concern over the tragedy, the bench ordered all parties and media outlets to refrain from conducting parallel public trials or distributing unverified sound bites that could compromise the integrity of the judicial process.

With the Bar Council of India already suspending Samarth Singh’s legal license and the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordering a second independent autopsy by a special medical team from AIIMS Delhi, the CBI is now tasked with resolving the stark contradictions between the husband's financial claims and the family's allegations of systemic torture.