Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday ordered a second post-mortem examination in the death case of actress-model Twisha Sharma, granting relief to her family which had raised concerns over alleged flaws in the initial autopsy conducted at AIIMS Bhopal.

The order comes days after a lower court rejected the family’s plea for a re-postmortem, observing that minor procedural lapses were insufficient grounds for a second examination.

Background

Twisha Sharma was found dead on May 12 at her marital home in Bhopal’s Katara Hills area. Following her death, police registered a case of dowry death and harassment against her husband, advocate Samarth Singh, and her mother-in-law, retired judge Giribala Singh.

Her family had approached the High Court after alleging discrepancies in the first post-mortem report prepared at AIIMS Bhopal. Representing the family, advocate Anurag Shrivastava argued that a second autopsy was necessary to ensure a fair investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death.

The case had earlier been heard by Judicial Magistrate First Class Anudita Gupta in Bhopal, who dismissed the plea for a second autopsy. The magistrate had stated that the court’s conscience must be fully satisfied before ordering a re-postmortem and noted that procedural irregularities alone did not justify such a step.

The lower court had also pointed out challenges in preserving the body for an extended period, stating that while it was being kept at AIIMS Bhopal mortuary at minus 4 degrees Celsius, long-term preservation would require a facility capable of maintaining minus 80 degrees Celsius, which was unavailable in the city.

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Meanwhile, police have announced a reward of ₹30,000 for information leading to the arrest of Samarth Singh, who has remained absconding since the incident.

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