New Delhi, Aug 18: Twisha Sharma died by suicidal hanging, according to the AIIMS medical board that conducted a court-ordered second postmortem.
The medical board had submitted its final forensic opinion to the CBI in a sealed cover, following which the CBI filed a chargesheet before a special court in Bhopal on Monday.
The CBI filed a chargesheet against Samarth Singh and Giribala Singh, the husband and mother-in-law of Twisha, accusing them of inflicting mental torture on the former actor-model who was found dead under suspicious circumstances at her marital home in Bhopal in May.
The 31-page chargesheet with annexures running into hundreds of pages chronicles alleged psychological torture inflicted on Twisha by Samarth and Giribala, a retired district judge, during the six months of marriage.
Giving a harrowing account of “sustained psychological harm” that drove the former Miss Pune to take the extreme step, the agency, in its chargesheet, invoked Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections related to inflicting cruelty by a husband or his relatives towards a woman, abetment to suicide and common intention.
Twisha, who married Samarth last December, was found hanging at her marital home on May 12. It was alleged in the FIR that Samarth had taken her to AIIMS Bhopal, where he claimed that she hanged herself at home at 10.20 pm.
The doctors at AIIMS informed the police that she was brought dead to the hospital, after which a medico-legal case was registered, the FIR said.
After the initial police investigation and a second autopsy ordered by the Madhya Pradesh High Court to clear critical doubts and address the family’s allegations of lapses in the first autopsy performed by AIIMS Bhopal, the CBI took over the probe and arrested Samarth and Giribala.
The second autopsy was conducted on May 24 by a four-member team from AIIMS Delhi in Bhopal. The postmortem and later board of medical experts from AIIMS Delhi have concurred with the opinion that it was a case of suicide.
“The cause of death is asphyxia as a result of ante-mortem hanging, which is suicidal in manner, produced by the examined ligature material, the gymnastic belt with a ring. No other injuries of medico-legal importance were found on the body of the deceased suggestive of assault/scuffle prior to death,” according to the chargesheet.
The five-member medical board, constituted on the directions of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, handed over its 11-page medical opinion to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on July 10.
The opinion clearly mentioned that she died by suicide and that there is no injury of medico-legal importance suggestive of physical assault and struggle in Twisha’s body, in compliance with the court’s order that the findings be submitted only to the investigating agency in a sealed envelope.
A copy of the compliance has also been sent to the Registrar General of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The high court, in its May 22 order in Writ Petition No 19119 of 2026, directed the constitution of a medical board at AIIMS, Delhi, to conduct a second postmortem examination.
The board carried out the autopsy on May 24 and visited the crime scene as part of its forensic investigation. Dr Sudhir Gupta, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at AIIMS, said the board examined every aspect of the case in detail before arriving at its conclusion.
“The medical board deliberated very minutely on the details of the case from all possible angles, took into consideration all available national and international journals for almost one month and has given a detailed opinion with scientific justification. It is a crystal-clear opinion for the CBI and for the judiciary, in the interest of truth and justice, that it is a case of suicide and there are no signs of any physical assault on the deceased body,” Dr Gupta said.
He added that the board had resolved the dispute regarding the ligature material allegedly used for hanging, including the gymnastics belt with a metal ring, an issue that figured prominently during the investigation.
The AIIMS opinion formed a key piece of forensic evidence in the CBI’s investigation into Twisha’s death. (PTI)
