Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) [India], May 22 : Counsel representing the family of Twisha Sharma on Friday alleged that there had been "no surrender" by the victim's husband, Samarth Singh, despite his appearance at the Jabalpur District Court earlier in the day.
Speaking to reporters, advocate Anurag Srivastav said the court had directed the accused to surrender either before the trial court or the investigating officer in Bhopal. He further alleged that Samarth Singh had no authority to surrender before the District Court in Jabalpur.
"The court has ordered today that (accused) Samarth Singh either surrender before the trial court or the investigating officer. The trial court is in Bhopal. Besides, there is the investigating officer, the SIT, and today an order has been issued that the CBI is involved. Look at how the son of a retired judge is being protected. He has no authority to surrender in the District Court, Jabalpur. We learned that he has come to surrender. There has been no surrender," he said.
The advocate also claimed that irregularities took place inside the courtroom during Samarth Singh's presence there.
"Inside the courtroom of the District Court, Jabalpur, Samarth Singh was sitting comfortably in the dark, with all the lights off, wearing a mask. The judge was not on the dais. There were three clerks present there. I asked them in what capacity they had kept him there. They had no answer to my question. As soon as Samarth Singh saw me, he ran away. His lawyers pushed me away...I have no idea whether the police came here or not," he said.
This comes after Samarth Singh, husband of Twisha Sharma, who was found dead at her Bhopal matrimonial house on May 12, arrived at the Jabalpur court on Friday. He was absconding in the case.
According to his advocate, Saurabh Sunder, Samarth Singh has reached Jabalpur court to surrender and they are moving an application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM).
Meanwhile, advocate Anurag Srivastava, representing the victim's side, said the accused should have surrendered before the trial court or the investigating officer in Bhopal.
"The trial court is in Bhopal, and the investigating officer is also in Bhopal, he (Twisha's husband and the accused, Samarth Singh) should surrender before them...If he wants to surrender, he should do it in the trial court or in front of the investigating officer," he said.
Earlier in the day, the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued a notice to pleas filed by the father of Twisha Sharma and the State government opposing the anticipatory bail granted by a lower court to Giribala Singh, the mother-in-law of the 33-year-old woman who was found dead in her Bhopal matrimonial house on May 12.
Advocate Ankur Pandey, counsel for the family of Twisha Sharma, said that the next hearing into the matter would be conducted on May 25.
"In this matter, a total of four petitions were filed in the High Court. One petition was filed by the government, challenging the bail granted to Giribala Singh by the lower sessions court. Following that, the victim's father also filed a petition challenging the bail granted to Giribala Singh by the lower sessions court. Hearing both of these petitions today, the High Court has issued a notice and scheduled the next hearing for the 25th. This hearing will involve arguments regarding why her (the victim's mother-in-law's) bail should not be cancelled, focusing on the points of challenge and the legal deficiencies involved; all of this will be heard on the 25th," Ankur Pandey told ANI.
Pandey informed that the High Court also permitted a second postmortem of Twisha Sharma.
The advocate said that after hearing the petition of the deceased woman's family, the court directed AIIMS Delhi Director to form a committee and send a team of medical experts to AIIMS Bhopal, who would conduct a second postmortem on Twisha Sharma. The family had approached the high court two days after a lower court turned down their plea for a second autopsy.
"Apart from this, a third petition was filed requesting a second post-mortem. After considering the arguments presented by the government and the petition filed by the victim's father, the court has allowed the second post-mortem. Although there was an initial discussion about transferring the body from here to Delhi, it was not deemed convenient. Therefore, with everyone's consent, directions have been issued to the Director of AIIMS, Delhi, to constitute a body [of experts] at the earliest. The expert doctors from Delhi will travel from Delhi to Bhopal and conduct the second post-mortem of Twisha Sharma's body, which is currently kept at AIIMS [Bhopal]," said Twisha Sharma's family's counsel.
The advocate said that Twisha Sharma's husband, Samarth Singh, who has been evading arrest since May 12, has withdrawn his bail application from the high court, stating that he would surrender either before the investigative agency or the court.
"In addition, the fourth petition filed was for Samarth Singh, the accused in this case, who has been absconding since the 12th and is Twisha Sharma's husband. His lawyer withdrew it today...He withdrew with the liberty that he would either surrender before the investigating agency or the court, and the court or investigating officer would take appropriate action accordingly," said advocate Ankur Pandey.
Earlier today, the Madhya Pradesh government recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death case of Twisha Sharma and granted consent for the agency to take over the investigation.
Twisha, a resident of Noida had married Bhopal resident Samarth Singh in December 2025. Following her death on May 12, her family alleged mental torture and dowry harassment by her husband and in-laws. Police registered a case and formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the matter.