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A retired judge and her son have been booked in a dowry harassment case after her 33-year-old daughter-in-law died on Tuesday (May 12, 2026) allegedly by suicide in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, police officers said on Friday (May 15, 2026), with the victim’s family alleging mental harassment by the accused. The family has also accused the police of “shielding” the accused and delay in filing the FIR.
According to the police, Twisha Sharma was found dead in her home in Katara Hills area on Tuesday (May 12, 2026) night after which she was taken to hospital and declared brought dead, prompting AIIMS, Bhopal, doctors to alert the police.
Twisha lived with her husband and lawyer Samarth Singh, and his mother Giribala Singh, a retired judge, in Bhopal since her marriage. She had worked as a model and had won Miss Pune in 2012 before taking a career in marketing.
Vikas Kumar Sehwal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Bhopal zone-2, told The Hinduthat an FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Section 80(2) based on a complaint from the deceased’s family and an investigation taken up.
Mr. Sehwal said that a postmortem examination was conducted on the victim and that the initial findings showed death by hanging.
“We are waiting for the detailed report and also gathering other evidence of harassment and records of dowry demands. The accused will be arrested based on evidence,” he said.
Twisha had married to Mr. Singh in December 2025, after they met through a dating app in 2024.
The victim’s family has accused her husband and mother-in-law of mentally harassing and misbehaving with her and making financial demands.
“They used to call her ‘useless’ and ‘a burden on them’ after she quit her job for sometime. They would taunt her that she came from a dysfunctional family. When they found out that she had a fixed deposit of ₹20 lakh, her husband would constantly ask her to transfer it to him. His mother always took his side,” Twisha’s brother, Major Harshit Sharma said to The Hindu.
“They appear a very reputed family on paper but the kind of comments and abuses they passed on my sister are completely different. They are now telling the police that she was clinically depressed. She had no history of mental illness. She was a very cheerful and confident woman all her life and they killed her by harassing her within six months of marriage,” he said, while accusing Ms. Singh and her son of delaying taking Twisha to hospital.
Mr. Sharma and his family, who hail from near Ajmer in Rajasthan arrived in Bhopal on Wednesday (May 13, 2026) morning after learning about Twisha’s death the previous night.
Mr. Sharma also alleged that the local police were in “bonhomie” with the accused family.
“We knew they were influential people but we were still shocked to see the rapport between them and the police personnel in the hospital and the crime scene. The cops were not even responding to us properly,” he said, adding that the family has decided not to take the body from the mortuary until his sister gets justice.
“The local police station in-charge even told us that it will take 15-20 days to file an FIR whether we take the body or not. I had to write to senior police officers about the behaviour of local police,” he said.
Mr. Sharma also said that his family was threatened by some local lawyers when they went to oppose an anticipatory bail filed by the accused.
“I had to approach my seniors in the Army who then arranged security for us,” he said.
Mr. Sehwal, however, denied the charges and said that the FIR was filled soon after the legal requirements were completed.
“The officers only tried to explain the legal aspects to the family as they making both murder and dowry harassment allegations,” the DCP said.
Meanwhile, relatives of Twisha staged a demonstrations in Bhopal seeking justice for her and have also launched a campaign on social media.
(If you are in distress or having suicidal tendencies, please reach out to these 24/7 helplines: KIRAN at 1800-599-0019 or Arogya Sahayavani at 104 for help.)
Published – May 16, 2026 02:35 pm IST
