BHOPAL: Two days after registering a case into the May 12 suspected dowry death of actor-model Twisha Sharma, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took in its custody Twisha’s husband, Samarth Singh on Wednesday.
A CBI team produced Samarth before the competent court in Bhopal and got his custody till May 29.
Importantly, Samarth who was on the run in the case for around 7-8 days, after his arrest on May 22 from Jabalpur, was produced by the local police in a Bhopal JMFC Court on May 23, which had sent him into police remand till May 29.
But with the CBI taking over the probe in the case on the recommendation of the state government, the central investigation agency got his custody from the court on Wednesday till May 29.
Immediately after getting his custody, the CBI took Samarth to the May 12 night crime scene – his house in Katara Hills area, on whose terrace, Twisha was allegedly found hanging to death.
A dedicated CBI team from Delhi, possessing the latest equipment and systems for advanced crime scene investigation, did a detailed study, photography and videography of the crime scene, before asking Samarth relevant questions about the night of the alleged crime.
The team which remained for more than three hours at the house of Samarth’s mother and co-accused, former judge Giribala Singh, subsequently returned with Samarth in its custody to the CBI’s office in Bhopal’s Char Imli area, where it is likely to further question Samarth.
According to informed sources, for carrying a dedicated probe into the matter and keeping safe all the evidence, the accused and witnesses, the CBI has sought from the Bhopal Police Commissionerate an isolated space for establishing it’s team’s camp office-cum-control room.
MP HC reserves order on plea to cancel Giribala Singh’s anticipatory bail
Meanwhile, in a related development, the MP High Court, Jabalpur reserved its order on the petitions seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted to Giribala Singh by the Bhopal District Court on May 15.
While the state government was represented in the 2.45 hours long hearing by the country's solicitor general Tushar Mehta and state’s advocate general Prashant Singh, the other petitioner – Twisha’s father Navnidhi Sharma was represented by senior advocate S Luthra. Giribala Singh on the other hand was represented by senior counsel Nitya Ramkrishnan.
The CBI, meanwhile, moved the HC, through an intervention application, seeking cancellation of Giribala Singh’s anticipatory bail, to enable the investigators to cross examine both the accused – mother Giribala Singh and son Samarth.
The state government, while seeking cancellation of Singh’s anticipatory bail, submitted that Giribala was granted anticipatory bail by the Bhopal Court on May 15 on the condition that she would cooperate with the prosecution in investigations. But despite multiple notices from the police, those present in her house refused to even take the notices, forgetting about Singh cooperating with the investigators in the probe.
“She had time to hold press conferences, but no time to cooperate in the investigations. Holding a press conference. CCTV footage was circulated to the media of the body being taken down. It was widely circulated. We have the evidence now, but it was copied and circulated to the media. I respectfully submit, this is a fit case for cancellation of bail,” the state submitted.
Giribala’s counsel responded to the petitioners’ submissions. While refuting the petitioners, particularly state’s submissions about non-cooperation with investigators, Singh’s counsel stated that the first time she received a notice was at the unearthly hour of night between May 20-21.
“Is that the time for serving a notice to a 63 years old woman. She responded at a less unearthly hour of 5 am. She also responded on WhatsApp herself at 6 am requesting for a time, she didn’t ignore their (cops) messages. They came and seized her mobile handset. The recovery memo was signed by her. On May 24, they again came to the house and seized whatever they needed from the area that is sealed, she doesn’t have access to that area.”
Responding to allegations of Rs 2 lakh dowry demanded by Giribala, her counsel submitted that Giribala and son Samarth had given her more than 7 lakhs to Twisha since marriage in December 2025. “Mother of the deceased (Twisha’s mother) had been advising her daughter to speak to the mother-in-law. If the allegations against her (Giribala Singh) were true, then why would she give such advice,” Singh’s counsel submitted.
In an important development during Wednesday’s MPHC hearing, the CBI filed an application, seeking Court’s permission to become an intervenor and demanding that Giribala Singh’s anticipatory bail be cancelled.
The CBI argued that during Twisha's first postmortem at AIIMS-Bhopal on May 13, Giribala Singh’s sister and another person were present, who should not have been there. This is a subject of investigation. Besides this, the custody of both the accused is necessary for cross-examination.