Twisha Sharma death: CBI alleges sustained mental cruelty by husband, mother-in-law
The CBI has chargesheeted Samarth Singh and his mother Giribala Singh, accusing them of subjecting former actor-model Twisha Sharma to sustained mental cruelty before her death in Bhopal. The agency invoked provisions concerning cruelty, abetment to suicide and common intention
New Delhi: The CBI has filed a chargesheet against Samarth Singh and Giribala Singh, the husband and mother-in-law of Twisha Sharma, 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, officials said on Monday.
The 31-page chargesheet with annexure running into hundreds of pages chronicles alleged psychological torture inflicted on Twisha by Samarth and Giribala, a retired district judge, during the six-month of marriage.
Giving a harrowing account of “sustained psychological harm” that drove former Miss Pune to take extreme step, the agency in its chargesheet submitted on August 14 has invoked Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections related to inflicting cruelty by a husband or his relatives towards a woman, abetment to suicide and common intention.
The chargesheet has been filed before the special court of Judge Shobhana Bhalavi in Bhopal. The agency has kept the probe into alleged dowry demand and dowry death open and more chargesheets may be filed based on further probe, the officials said.
According to Twisha’s family lawyer, Ankur Pandey, the CBI has sought permission from the court for further investigation into the case. The CBI has completed the investigation and filed the chargesheet within the stipulated 90-day period. It has requested the court to allow further investigation into two or three aspects, subject to the judge’s permission, Pandey told PTI Videos.
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 found on the body of the deceased suggestive of assault/scuffle prior to death,” according to the chargesheet. The central agency said that Twisha, who had worked in South Indian films and was pursuing an MBA, came in contact with Samarth through a dating website which culminated into marriage after several months in December 2025.
The CBI has alleged that in the six months of married life, Twisha was subjected to mental cruelty by accused Samarth on many occasions and was addressed with “derogatory words” about her character despite the fact that the deceased was honest and truthful in telling him about her past relationships before the marriage.
The agency claimed in its chargesheet that Giribala used to instigate her son from time to rime to cause “mental cruelty” to the deceased and also helped in shielding her son when the victim wanted to complain against him.
The monther-son duo allegedly used to “harass” Twisha when she was taking care of her father who had suffered a heart attack in March 2026, forcing her to return to Bhopal. The probe showed that the central flashpoint involved her “unplanned” pregnancy in April 2026. While Twisha was uncertain about continuing the pregnancy due to the ongoing abuse, the agency alleged that Samarth and his mother pressured her to keep the child even as the husband kept questioning the child’s paternity after the abortion.
The mental torture escalated over financial and personal matters as Samarth allegedly started pressuring her to transfer savings of Rs 20 lakh in her demat account into his account for investing in Chinese stock markets.
The CBI alleged that Samarth told Twisha to transfer the Rs 20 lakh investment in equity shares into a joint account which she refused stating the money belonged to her father. This allegedly intensified further cruelty. Even her professional setbacks were weaponized against her, the agency alleged citing the mocking by her husband that she lost the job because she “did not even know how to speak English”.
According to Twisha’s bother Ashish Sharma, the CBI has given factual details about the cruelty inflicted on Twisha and who did what to her, including the mental harassment she was subjected to. “All of that made it clear that she was left with no option,” Ashish told reporters. Twisha’s family had accused Samarth and Giribala of mental abuse, physical violence, and dowry-related torture.
The agency is still awaiting forensic extraction of Twisha and Samarth’s phones and DVR of the CCTVs in Giribala’s home in Bhopal which would have captured the incidents of May 12 when Twisha took her own life by hanging herself using a gymnastics rope. In their statements, Twisha’s family has alleged that she was tormented by her in-laws, who were not satisfied with the dowry paid at the time of the wedding on December 9, 2025.
