Twisha Sharma Death Case: Custody of Ex-Judge Giribala Singh, Son Samarth Singh Extended Till August 11
A Bhopal CBI court has extended the judicial custody of ex-judge Giribala Singh and her son Samarth Singh till August 11 in the Twisha Sharma dowry death case, days after denying Singh bail.
Giribala Singh, Son Samarth Singh’s Judicial Custody Extended in Twisha Sharma Case
A special CBI court in Bhopal on Tuesday extended the judicial custody of retired district judge Giribala Singh and her son, advocate Samarth Singh, till August 11, keeping both accused in the Twisha Sharma dowry death case behind bars for at least another fortnight.
The order came just days after the same court had already refusedGiribala Singh regular bail, holding that her decades as a judicial officer made it impossible to rule out her influencing witnesses if she were released.
The Central Bureau of Investigation told the court its probe was incomplete and that several witnesses were yet to be examined, arguing continued custody was necessary to protect the integrity of the investigation. The court accepted the submission and ordered that both accused remain in judicial custody, meaning they will stay lodged in jail rather than being sent home or granted interim relief while the CBI completes its work.
This is not the first extension the two have faced. Their custody was first extended on July 14 for 14 days, taking it up to July 28, after the CBI told the court it needed more time to complete forensic analysis of seized phones and laptops, one of which remained password protected. Before that, custody had been extended in stages through June, with the agency repeatedly citing pending call detail record analysis, digital forensic work, and the recording of witness statements as reasons the accused could not yet be released.
The case relates to the death of 33-year-old Twisha Sharma, a former model and actor, who was found dead at her matrimonial home on the night of May 12, less than five months after her wedding to Samarth Singh. While her in-laws maintained she died by suicide, her family alleged she was murdered, pointing to what they described as continuous harassment over dowry demands.
An FIR was registered two days later, naming both Samarth and Giribala Singh, and the Supreme Court subsequently took suo motucognisance of the matter, transferring the investigation to the CBI over concerns that a serving judicial officer’s family being probed by local police could dent public confidence in the justice system.
A key forensic dispute in the case concerned whether a gymnastics belt with a metal ring, allegedly used for hanging, actually matched the ligature injuries found on Sharma’s neck. The first post-mortem could not settle this because the material was not produced before the medical board at the time. This prompted the Madhya Pradesh High Court to order a fresh, court-supervised post-mortem by a medical board at AIIMS Delhi. That board submitted its final forensic opinion to the CBI on July 12 in a sealed cover, as directed by the court, resolving the dispute, though its contents remain confidential for now.
While denying Singh bail on July 25, the special court had noted that her institutional standing, built over decades of deciding bail pleas and criminal trials as a judicial officer, could not be separated from the risk of witnesses being influenced if she walked free. The defence had sought bail on humanitarian grounds, citing her health and her elderly mother’s care, but the court held that these considerations did not outweigh the material already gathered against her.
With custody now extended till August 11, both Samarth and Giribala Singh will remain lodged in Bhopal’s jail while the CBI continues questioning witnesses connected to the case.
