Chargesheet filed in Bhopal court
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet in a Bhopal court against Samarth Singh and his mother Giribala Singh, a retired district judge, in connection with the death of 34-year-old Twisha Sharma on May 12. The document, filed on August 14, runs to about 600 pages and accuses the two of subjecting Sharma to sustained mental cruelty and abetting her suicide, as reported by Lokmat Times and The Times of India.
The chargesheet invokes provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to cruelty, abetment of suicide, and common intention — specifically Sections 85, 108, and 3(5), according to Lokmat Times.
Sharma, a former Miss Pune who had worked as an actor before moving into the corporate sector, met Samarth Singh on an online dating application in February 2025. They married on December 9 that year, Lokmat Times reported.
A disputed investment
A central thread in the chargesheet is a financial dispute. The CBI alleged that Samarth repeatedly pressured Sharma to transfer Rs 20 lakh from her demat account to his account for investment in the Chinese stock market, according to The Times of India. Sharma refused, saying the money belonged to her father.
The pressure continued even while Sharma was caring for her father after he suffered a heart attack in March 2026, the chargesheet alleged. The couple's relationship deteriorated in March and April of that year, and Sharma was pressured to return to Bhopal, which she did on March 24, Lokmat Times reported.
The financial dispute formed part of the mental and psychological cruelty the CBI attributed to Samarth and his mother, The Times of India reported.
The final evening
The chargesheet reconstructs the evening of May 12 through a trail of calls, messages, and CCTV footage.
At 7:51 pm, Sharma called her sister-in-law Rashi Abrol, allegedly telling her that Samarth was pressuring her to transfer the Rs 20 lakh for the Chinese stock investment. More than 34 attempted calls and exchanges between the two families followed as Sharma's mother tried to reach Samarth and Giribala, according to the chargesheet as reported by The Times of India.
Around 9:20 pm, Sharma called Abrol again while crying, saying she had asked Samarth to sleep in a separate bedroom because of her back pain. The call ended abruptly after an alleged violent outburst from Samarth, The Times of India reported. When Abrol called back at 9:29 pm, Sharma was reportedly sobbing before the call was disconnected.
At 9:36 pm, Sharma sent her final message to Abrol: "Ask him to collect left over of his wife. But tomorrow. Let me die in peace right now."
Four minutes later, CCTV footage cited by the CBI showed Sharma walking alone from the ground floor of her Bhopal home towards the terrace, Lokmat Times reported.
At 9:41 pm, she called her father while crying, telling him Samarth had become "very aggressive and violent" and asking her parents to come immediately. Around 10:05 pm, she spoke to her mother and repeated the same concerns, according to the CBI.
Sharma's mother made several calls to her daughter without response and also tried contacting Samarth and Giribala, who did not respond immediately, Lokmat Times reported. Giribala answered at 10:10 pm after earlier calls went unanswered, and Sharma's mother told her that her daughter had been crying heavily.
CCTV footage allegedly showed Giribala leaving her room at 10:16 pm to check on Sharma, and after finding the ground floor empty, she called Sharma's phone at 10:18 pm without response. Five minutes later, at around 10:23 pm, CCTV footage allegedly showed Samarth and his mother heading towards the terrace, where Sharma was found hanging by a "gymnastic belt," according to both Lokmat Times and The Times of India.
Samarth took Sharma to AIIMS Bhopal, where she was declared brought dead at around 10:55 pm, the FIR stated, as reported by Lokmat Times.
Months of alleged cruelty
The chargesheet details a pattern of alleged mistreatment in the months before Sharma's death.
According to Lokmat Times, the CBI alleges that after their marriage, Samarth subjected Sharma to repeated mental cruelty, including sexually derogatory remarks and allegations concerning relationships she had disclosed before marriage. Giribala repeatedly sided with or encouraged her son when Sharma objected, the chargesheet alleged.
Samarth also allegedly mocked Sharma's professional setbacks, telling her she lost her job because she did not know how to speak English, The Times of India reported.
Sharma discovered she was pregnant on April 16. The pregnancy was unplanned, and she was uncertain about continuing it because of Samarth's alleged abusive behaviour, the chargesheet stated. Following an argument on April 17, she left her matrimonial home.
After returning to Bhopal, on April 30 Sharma told her mother that her life had become "hell" and that she had suffered an anxiety attack, Lokmat Times reported. A psychiatrist found her anxious and distressed about the pregnancy and prescribed medication.
On May 6, Sharma accepted an offer to rejoin her previous job and took the first dose of medication for termination of pregnancy. The next day, in messages to her mother, she asked to be taken away from the matrimonial home. Giribala wanted to explore whether the termination could be reversed and took Sharma to a hospital on May 7, but doctors said the process could not be reversed, the chargesheet said. Sharma was later examined by Dr Kakoli Roy, who found her emotionally distressed.
Sharma told her sister-in-law that Giribala had called her a "murderer" three times over the abortion, Lokmat Times reported. On May 8, Sharma took the second dose of termination medication and experienced significant pain and bleeding. She complained that Samarth dismissed her suffering as "drama."
On May 9, Sharma told her mother that Samarth had questioned whether the pregnancy she terminated was even his. She expressed feelings of suffocation and, according to the CBI, spoke about dying and disappearing.
Her former employer, Amit Das, told investigators that Sharma complained of being continuously monitored at home and having her calls watched, Lokmat Times reported.
The last day
On May 12, Sharma decided to leave Bhopal permanently. Earlier that day, she had sought Rs 3,000 from her mother for a train ticket to Nasirabad in Rajasthan; her father transferred the money and she booked the ticket, according to Lokmat Times.
That same day, Samarth agreed to attend a counselling session, and the couple met Dr Roy around 11:30 am. According to the chargesheet, Samarth raised complaints about Sharma's behaviour and said they consumed marijuana, and Dr Roy advised him to listen to her, give her time, and stop using marijuana.
The couple returned home around 1 pm, and Sharma later went to a beauty parlour, returning around 6:11 pm. She told her mother that Samarth and Giribala had ignored her when she tried to join them outside and that she had concluded the marriage could not be repaired.
Post-mortem and investigation status
The post-mortem examination and a subsequent review by a board of medical experts from AIIMS Delhi concluded that Sharma died by suicide, according to both Lokmat Times and The Times of India. The cause of death was asphyxia as a result of ante-mortem hanging, with no other injuries suggesting assault or scuffle prior to death, the reports said.
The CBI's case is that prolonged alleged mental cruelty drove Sharma to suicide, not that she was physically murdered, Lokmat Times reported. A forensic psychological assessment based on Sharma's diaries, CCTV footage, and other evidence indicated prolonged psychological harm, hopelessness, and lack of support.
The investigation remains open. The CBI is awaiting complete forensic extraction of data from Sharma's and Samarth's phones as well as CCTV DVR footage from Giribala's home in Bhopal, according to The Times of India. The DVR has been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in New Delhi to determine the continuity of CCTV recordings and examine possible tampering, Lokmat Times reported. Voice samples of Samarth and Giribala have been sent for forensic comparison with audio recordings recovered during the probe.
The CBI has also sought permission to continue investigating allegations relating to dowry demand and dowry death under Section 193(9) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), Lokmat Times reported.