Samarth Singh, the husband of model and actor Twisha Sharma, who had been absconding after her death last week in Bhopal, reached a court in Jabalpur on Friday evening to surrender, according to his lawyer.
The move came about an hour after Singh withdrew an anticipatory bail plea filed before the Madhya Pradesh High Court. With the withdrawal of the application, Singh was left with no other option but to surrender.
"Samarth Singh has reached the Jabalpur district court to surrender," his lawyer Mrigendra Singh said.
He withdrew his anticipatory bail plea from the single bench of the high court comprising Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh, his counsel Jaydeep Kaurav said.
The anticipatory bail plea was filed before the high court on Thursday after a subordinate court turned down his application last week.
Meanwhile, the high court on Friday issued a notice to Samarth's mother and former judge Giribala Singh, who has also been named as an accused in the case, on pleas seeking cancellation of her anticipatory bail filed by Twisha's father and the state government.
Justice Avanindra Kumar Singh fixed the hearing on the petitions for May 25.
Notably, the police on Thursday issued the third and final notice to Giribala Singh for recording her statement. It also initiated a probe to determine whether she could continue as chairperson of the consumer court, an official circular said.
"If she does not cooperate, we will move the sessions court seeking cancellation of her bail," Bhopal Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar said on Thursday.
Giribala, a retired district and sessions judge and current chairperson of the Bhopal Consumer Court, was granted anticipatory bail last week by a Bhopal court. She is named in the FIR registered in the death case.
Twisha Sharma, a 33-year-old model-turned-actor from Noida, was found hanging at her marital home in Bhopal's Katara Hills area on May 12.
While her in-laws allege she suffered from drug addiction, her family maintains she was harassed for dowry, leading to her death.
Police registered an FIR under Sections 80(2), 85 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act, against Samarth Singh and his mother.
Police had announced a cash reward of Rs 30,000 for information leading to Samarth Singh's arrest and also approached the court seeking revocation of his passport.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
