AIIMS Delhi Report Links Skin Tissue to Belt in Twisha Sharma Death
The final forensic report from AIIMS Delhi in the Twisha Sharma death case has concluded that a gymnastics belt could have been used in the incident, as it found the presence of the victim's skin tissue on the belt, sources said.
The AIIMS Delhi medical board, which conducted a court-ordered second post-mortem on Twisha, submitted the report to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on July 10. The report confirms that the alleged ligature material – the gymnastics belt with a metal ring at the end – matched the injury pattern on the victim's neck, sources said.
Twisha, a former model and actress, married lawyer Samarth Singh in December last year. She was found hanging at her marital home in Bhopal on May 12.
The central probe agency is studying the report, sources said. The second post-mortem was conducted on May 24 after the first autopsy at AIIMS Bhopal proved inconclusive because the alleged ligature material was not produced before its medical board. Police later seized the belt and submitted it for inspection to the second medical board led by experts from AIIMS Delhi.
The five-member board handed over its 11-page report to the CBI in a sealed cover, in compliance with a Madhya Pradesh High Court order. A compliance report has also been sent to the registrar general of the high court, sources said.
According to sources familiar with the findings, laboratory and histopathological examinations detected skin tissue on the belt, which corresponded with the ligature mark and injury pattern observed during the second post-mortem.
Dr. Sudhir Gupta, Head of Forensic Medicine at AIIMS Delhi, said the board undertook an exhaustive scientific evaluation before arriving at its conclusion. “The medical board deliberated very minutely on the case from all possible angles, taking into consideration all available national and international journals for almost one month before giving 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,” Gupta said. He declined to elaborate further, citing court directions.
According to the forwarding letter, the report was handed over to the CBI investigating officer, while the videography of the second post-mortem remained in the custody of the investigating agency. The report is expected to form a crucial piece of scientific evidence in the agency's probe, sources said.
According to the first information report (FIR) lodged in the case, Samarth took Twisha to AIIMS Bhopal, where he claimed that she had hung herself at home at 10.20 p.m. on May 12. However, a doctor at AIIMS Bhopal told police later that Twisha was brought dead to the hospital, after which a medico-legal case was registered.
In their statements given to police at the time of filing the FIR, Twisha's family members said she spoke to her mother at 9.41 p.m. on May 12. During the call, Samarth could be heard shouting before the phone was cut abruptly, the family alleged. After repeated calls went unanswered, Twisha's mother-in-law, Giribala Singh, a retired judge, picked up the phone and told Twisha's sister-in-law that “she is no more”, before cutting the call, the FIR alleged.
The first post-mortem report concluded that the death was caused by “antemortem hanging by ligature” and found “multiple antemortem injuries”. However, alleging lapses in the initial investigation and post-mortem, her family approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which ordered a second autopsy by AIIMS Delhi and subsequently transferred the investigation to the CBI.
Twisha's family had alleged that she was tormented by her in-laws, who were not satisfied with the dowry paid at the time of marriage. They also levelled allegations of mental torture and domestic violence, which allegedly pushed the 33-year-old former model-actor to take the extreme step.
