Scientific techniques to 'scene' recreation, how CBI is probing Twisha Sharma's death

A special CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) court in Bhopal, on June 2, sent retired district judge Giribala Singh and her lawyer son Samarth Singh to judicial custody for 14 days in the Twisha Sharma death case.

The CBI counsel informed in court that the probe agency was for the moment done with its interrogation of Giribala (Twisha’s mother-in-law) and Samarth (Twisha’s husband), and that remand may be sought again if it needed to question the two accused or confront them with evidence.

Twisha, a 33-year-old former Miss Pune, was found hanging at her marital home in Bhopal on May 12 in what is alleged to be a case of dowry harassment and domestic torture. The case was transferred by the Madhya Pradesh government to the CBI after an outcry over the alleged highhandedness of the Singh family and handling of the case by the state police.

Here’s how the CBI probe has moved forward over the past two weeks. Sources said that in the past 10 days that Giribala and Samarth were in CBI custody, they were taken to their home and asked to narrate the sequence of events. The CBI used a 3D scanner to recreate the structural image of the house.

Sources said that on June 1, the CBI brought a model of Twisha weighing 80 kg—the same as recorded in her post-mortem. The model was hung at the gym where her body was found. Giribala and Samarth were asked to recreate the scene of removal of the band from around her neck, release of the body and making it lie down.

Sources said that during the recreation, Samarth was watched from a distance expressing displeasure at something. He later walked away but returned. During this recreation, it apparently became clear that the knot around Twisha’s neck was opened by Giribala while Samarth had raised the body to loosen the knot.

On June 2, the mother and son were presented in the special CBI court and sent to the Central Jail in Bhopal for 14 days. Giribala argued her own case and is said to have asked the judge to restrain the media from following them everywhere.

Sources said the CBI is awaiting the report of the second post-mortem and a lot of how the case proceeds depends on it. The post-mortem was conducted on May 24 and its report would be sent in a sealed envelope from New Delhi.

Giribala’s lawyers have said they have no objection to the investigation being conducted by the CBI.

Twisha’s family has accused the Singhs of her harassment and even murder—a charge the accused have denied. The police have registered a case of dowry death. While Giribala had secured anticipatory bail, Samarth failed to get one. He remained untraceable for days before being arrested on May 22. Giribala’s bail was cancelled on May 27 by the Madhya Pradesh High Court and she was arrested the next day.

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