After days of custodial questioning by the CBI, and her son Samarth were on Monday sent to judicial custody till June 16 by a Bhopal court in connection with the death of former model and actor Twisha Sharma.
The order came after the CBI produced both accused before the court on completion of their remand period. The agency did not seek further custody, following which the court remanded both to judicial custody.
Sources said Giribala Singh and Samarth Singh will be lodged separately from other inmates at Central Jail.
The development marks the end of the first phase of the CBI’s investigation after it took over the case from the Madhya Pradesh Police. During the remand period, investigators questioned both accused over the circumstances surrounding Twisha’s death, the sequence of events inside the Bhopal residence on the night of May 12 and various pieces of digital, forensic and physical evidence collected during the probe.
Twisha Sharma, a former Miss and actor originally from Noida, was found dead at her matrimonial home less than six months after marrying Samarth Singh. The case, initially registered by Katara Hills police as a dowry death, was later transferred to the CBI amid allegations of investigative lapses and evidence tampering.
The arrest of Giribala Singh came after the Madhya Pradesh High Court quashed the anticipatory bail granted to her, observing that the trial court had failed to adequately consider witness statements, WhatsApp chats and postmortem findings showing multiple ante-mortem injuries on Twisha’s body.
The CBI is investigating the case under Sections 80(2), 85 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to dowry death, cruelty by husband or relatives and joint criminal liability, along with Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
