CBI gets 5-day custody of Giribala & son, plans joint quiz

Bhopal: A sessions court in Bhopal on Friday sent Giribala Singh, retired district judge and mother-in-law of model-turned actor Twisha Sharma, and her lawyer-husband Samarth Singh to five days of CBI custody till June 2.

Mother and son were produced together before sessions judge Shobhana Bhalave. CBI sought five days of remand for the duo’s simultaneous interrogation over Twisha’s death at her marital home on May 12 by alleged suicide amid allegations of dowry harassment.

Samarth was arrested on May 23 and had initially been in seven-day Bhopal police custody, which was later transferred to CBI on May 27 after the central agency took over the case. Giribala was arrested by CBI on Thursday after seven hours of questioning at her home in upscale Bagh Mugalia Extension of Bhopal’s Katara Hills area.

In the court on Friday, Samarth was brought on the expiry of his seven-day remand and Giribala for fresh custody. CBI counsel pressed for joint remands to ensure mother and son can be questioned together about the circumstances of Twisha’s death.

Twisha’s Noida-based family arrived in Bhopal the day after her death and have since accused Giribala and Samarth of torturing her, eventually leading the police to file a case of dowry death against the duo on May 14.

Giribala was granted anticipatory bail by a trial court on May 15, three days after Twisha’s death. Samarth’s anticipatory bail was turned down. He then moved the high court but withdrew his plea when it came up on May 22. He was arrested from Jabalpur and remanded in police custody.

Later, MP govt and Twisha’s family challenged in the high court the lower court’s anticipatory bail for Giribala. Justice Dev Narayan Mishra cancelled it on Wednesday after prolonged arguments, paving the way for CBI sleuths to take Giribala into custody the next day.