Bhopal: With a court rejecting a plea for a second autopsy of Twisha Sharma, the Noida woman who was allegedly harassed for dowry and died last week, her family stated that “unnecessary bureaucratic delays” could lead to decomposition of the body and adversely affect the crucial forensic evidence.
In a day of fast-paced developments, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said the state government will seek a CBI probe into Sharma’s death.
During the day, the magistrate court heard the arguments on a plea filed by the woman’s side seeking a second postmortem at AIIMS Delhi.
In the evening, Judicial Magistrate (First class) said it was beyond her powers to clear a second autopsy outside the court’s jurisdiction but directed the police to ensure that the body was well preserved after identifying a “low temperature preservation facility” in Madhya Pradesh.
The magistrate also made a verbal observation that the investigations held so far do not warrant a second postmortem.
The Madhya Pradesh government will seek a CBI probe into the death of Twisha Sharma, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav assured family members from her side. They met CM Yadav at the state secretariat and sought a fair probe into her death.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister assured them to provide all the possible assistance from the state government, an official statement said. The CM said he would write to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), urging it to take up the probe into the case, the statement added.
The family also issued a statement amid an increasingly bitter and high-profile dispute surrounding the death of the 33-year-old Sharma, a former model and actor, who was found hanging at her matrimonial residence in Bhopal’s Katara Hills area on May 12, with the victim’s family accusing her in-laws of pushing their daughter to death, while the groom’s side claims the deceased was addicted to drugs.
Police registered an FIR under Sections 80(2), 85, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita along with relevant sections of the Dowry Prohibition Act, naming her husband, advocate Samarth Singh, and her mother-in-law, Giribala Singh, a retired Additional District Judge.
While Giribala Singh secured bail, Samarth Singh remains absconding, prompting the police to deploy multiple tracking teams and announce a cash reward of Rs 10,000 for information leading to his arrest.
Casting aspersions over the investigation carried out by the local police, the family expressed surprise over the letter written by the Bhopal police to the father of the victim, asking him to take the body amid concerns over its decomposition at the hospital. Family members of Twisha said that they had been writing letters to the AIIMS Bhopal asking them to preserve the mortal remains.
