Charges and Statements

The CBI submitted a 600-page chargesheet in court last week, stating that the victim, Twisha Sharma, was subjected to mental cruelty by her husband, Samarth Singh, and his mother, Giribala Singh. According to the CBI, this led her to allegedly take her own life, but Giribala called the accusations ‘baseless’ and claimed that Twisha had mental health issues and that she killed herself.

Samarth initially could not be located but later surrendered to police; Giribala was arrested a few days later, and both remain in jail, and Twisha’s family lawyer, Ankur Pandey, said the CBI’s invocation of abetment to suicide means the death is considered an alleged suicide. The CBI has also sought permission for further investigation, stating that new evidence could lead to additional people being investigated and a supplementary chargesheet being filed.

Defense Claims and Background

Giribala Singh’s lawyer, Inosh George Carlo, stated that the investigation has found no evidence of dowry harassment or murder as previously alleged — he said they have been maintaining this from the beginning but felt the media has not listened. Twisha was a former model and actor, having been crowned Miss Pune in 2012 and featured in a Telugu-language film, though In recent years, she had worked as a marketing professional with private firms.

According to the chargesheet, Twisha met Samarth through a dating app in February 2025, and the couple married in December; the CBI’s investigation includes recreating the crime scene with dummies to understand the sequence of events. The post-mortem report indicated that death was due to ‘antemortem hanging by ligature,’ with the body showing ‘multiple antemortem injuries (simple in nature, possibly by blunt force over other parts of the body).’

Investigation and Reconstruction

The CBI reconstructed the crime scene with dummies to better understand the incident, and Twisha’s body was found hanging at her marital home on May 12. The agency brought Samarth and Giribala to the scene and asked them to describe the events following the alleged suicide; a dummy weighing similar to Twisha was used to recreate the crime scene. The CBI is working to develop a minute-by-minute timeline of the events on the night of May 12.

Twisha was brought to AIIMS, Bhopal, after allegedly hanging herself at 10:20 pm. Doctors at AIIMS informed the police on May 13 at 12:05 am that she was brought dead to the hospital, and a PMLC (Post-Mortem and Legal Case) was registered. Police registered the FIR on May 15 after receiving the post-mortem report and recording statements from Twisha’s family members.