Bhopal: The case surrounding the suspicious death of 33-year-old model and actress Twisha Sharma has intensified, as a Bhopal court has denied the anticipatory bail request of her husband, lawyer Samarth Singh, who is currently absconding.
After the court’s ruling on Monday, the Bhopal Police formally declared a cash reward of Rs 10,000 for information that results in his arrest.
Earlier, the court had granted anticipatory bail to Samarth’s mother, retired judge Giribala Singh, who is likewise an accused in the case.Twisha was discovered hanging at her matrimonial residence in Bhopal’s Katara Hills locality on May 12, only a few months after her December 2025 wedding to Samarth, whom she had first connected with on a dating app in 2024.
As a Special Investigation Team (SIT) examines the case, her family claims she was subjected to systematic torture and killed over dowry, allegations that Giribala Singh has denied.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Rajneesh Kashyap of Misrod, who is leading the SIT, stated that efforts are ongoing to locate Samarth.
During the tense court hearing, Samarth's lawyer objected to his arrest by questioning Twisha's mental health, a claim that was firmly challenged by the legal representative of the deceased woman's family.
He pointed to serious dangers of the evidence being tampered with.
After considering the arguments, Sessions Court Judge Pallavi Dwivedi rejected Samarth's anticipatory bail application.
Although the court had earlier granted anticipatory bail to Twisha’s mother-in-law, Giribala Singh, it categorically refused to extend the same relief to Samarth.
Responding to the development, the woman’s grief-stricken father, Navnidhi Sharma, told PTI Videos that the rejection was only a partial move toward justice, adding that true victory would be achieved only when both are punished, as he called for the immediate arrest of the husband and the retired judge. He stated that the dismissal of the anticipatory bail request was not their victory, adding that their true victory would come only when both individuals are punished.
He voiced serious concerns that the powerful family might leverage their wealth and influence to obtain relief from the Madhya Pradesh High Court if they were not promptly taken into custody.
The legal dispute escalated on Monday after Samarth’s bail application appeared on social media, alleging that Twisha was a psychiatric patient and drug addict whose hands and feet would shake when she was deprived of narcotics.
To refute the dowry accusations, the retired judge submitted online transaction receipts showing payments between Rs 5,000 and Rs 50,000, asserting that they consistently covered Twisha’s expenses.
However, Twisha’s family has vehemently denied these accusations, offering an alternative sequence of events and portraying Twisha as a cheerful, lively young woman who underwent a drastic transformation after marriage, shedding 15 kilograms as a result of continuous psychological harassment.
Her cousin Meenakshi told multiple media outlets that the harassment intensified after Twisha lost her work-from-home job, became pregnant, and her husband refused to accept the child as his.
The local investigation is already facing intense scrutiny, as ACP Kashyap stated that although the initial AIIMS Bhopal post-mortem suggests death by hanging in a suspected suicide, the family alleges that multiple injury marks on her body point to murder.
Acknowledging a lapse in the local investigation, Kashyap admitted that the investigating officer did not send the rope allegedly used in the hanging to AIIMS during the autopsy, and stated that action would be taken against the officer responsible.
He emphasized based on the sections specified in the FIR, Kashyap told PTI.
The petition further stated that she had been receiving psychiatric care and mental health counseling.
Speaking at a press conference following the court’s decision, Giribala Singh asserted that Twisha was dealing with psychological illness and depression.
She described Twisha's death as a 'nightmare' for the family, saying it felt that way because Twisha was an integral part of them.
The retired judge alleged that Twisha’s family thrust her into the glamour industry at a very young age and asserted that she consequently lived under constant mental pressure.
Giribala Singh further alleged that Twisha's family had not visited her for the past five months and were now preventing the performance of her last rites.
She voiced complete confidence in the ongoing police investigation and the judicial system.The bail application further asserted that Twisha flew to Delhi on April 17 and could not be located for approximately 12 hours before arriving at her parents’ home the following day.
It additionally asserted that her attitude toward her in-laws shifted after she became pregnant, and it was alleged that her husband had taken her to a beauty salon on the day the incident occurred.
The plea states that Twisha had also experienced a miscarriage.
However, Twisha's family portrayed her as a bright and energetic woman whose demeanor shifted after she got married.Officials stated that the SIT will probe accusations of dowry-related harassment, physical abuse, and purported efforts to tamper with or destroy evidence following her death.
On Sunday, Twisha's family held a large demonstration outside the residence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav in Bhopal.
Highlighting that Twisha's body has been lying in a Bhopal mortuary for five days, her father insisted that the flawed local investigation be stopped and a new, independent post-mortem be carried out at AIIMS Delhi.