Twisha Sharma Death Case: Madhya Pradesh High Court Reserves Order On Giribala Singh’s Bail

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has reserved its order on the bail application of Giribala Singh in the Twisha Sharma death case, after hearing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the objector and the defence.

Additional Solicitor General Sunil Jain, appearing for the CBI, opposed bail and told the court that the agency had already filed a charge sheet and has also obtained the court’s permission to continue its investigation. He rejected the suggestion that the dowry death aspect had been closed.

Appearing before the bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Nirankari, Jain reminded the court of its earlier order cancelling Giribala’s anticipatory bail, which recorded allegations that Twisha’s husband and mother-in-law doubted her character after she became pregnant and pressed her to abort. That order, he said, noted that Giribala is influential and did not cooperate with the CBI, including in giving a voice sample.

Reading from the CBI’s final report, he submitted that both Giribala and her son, Samarth Singh, harassed Twisha mentally while she was caring for her ailing father in March and pressured her to return to Bhopal. The report also records that Giribala was “desperate” for Twisha to conceive and became furious when Twisha objected to repeated enquiries, he said.

He read out messages Twisha sent her mother in the days before her death, asking to be taken away from the matrimonial home. According to the final report, the CBI has concluded that both accused caused such mental cruelty that Twisha was left with no choice but to end her life.

On dowry, Jain referred to statements of Twisha’s family members. The father alleged that Giribala demanded Rs 50 lakh at the sangeet ceremony, later settling for Rs 10 lakh, while other relatives said Rs 2 lakh was handed over in cash. Jain added that the investigation into dowry demand and dowry death is continuing.

Alleging that Giribala ran a “parallel investigation”, he cited the statement of the beauty parlour owner who said Giribala called her on May 13 about the CCTV footage, after which persons who appeared to be advocates came to collect it, saying the police needed it.

Jain relied on conversations Twisha recorded on a second phone, including one with Giribala in which Twisha says she has “nobody to take my side here”. In other recordings, he said, Giribala questioned Twisha about her past relationships and defended her right to do so.

Calling cruelty “multiple in nature”, Jain said Twisha faced harassment over dowry, her character and having a child, and that Samarth alone was not responsible. Giribala, he said, was present at home on the day and had instigated the harassment. In normal circumstances, he added, this may have been a bail case, but data from Twisha’s phone and the CCTV recorder is still awaited from forensic labs.

Replying for Giribala Singh, Senior Advocate Surendra Singh said the CBI’s non-cooperation claim was unfounded. She gave her voice sample on July 9 at Bhopal Central Jail under the magistrate’s orders, he said, and declined a second sample the next day because the order did not require one. If the CBI wanted more, he argued, it should have applied to the magistrate.

On the CCTV footage, he said she called the DVR provider in the presence of the police to prove her innocence, since the complainant side was alleging murder. “Am I not permitted to prove my innocence?” he asked, adding that the footage would have shown that Twisha had gone upstairs on her own. The relatives, he said, were the ones who tried to influence the post-mortem.

Rejecting the tampering argument, he pointed out that the witnesses live outside Madhya Pradesh, mostly in Noida and Delhi, and that the CBI itself has never said she influenced the probe. As for her calls to officers, he asked what their context was, noting that none of those people has been shown to have influenced the investigation.

On the risk of absconding, Singh said Giribala has deep roots in Bhopal, owns the house where the incident took place, has family members in the armed forces and did not flee even after her anticipatory bail was cancelled. He added that she is 65, has spent five months in custody and is no longer needed for investigation.

The order has been reserved.

Background

Twisha Sharma was found dead at her matrimonial home in Bhopal's Katara Hills area on May 12, barely five months after her wedding to advocate Samarth Singh, Giribala's son. Her family alleged foul play, with her brother, Major Harshit Sharma of the Indian Army, claiming she had faced continuous harassment over a dowry demand of roughly two lakh rupees and restrictions on her access to money. An FIR naming Samarth and Giribala Singh followed two days later; Samarth was arrested in Jabalpur on May 22 after evading arrest for ten days.

The Supreme Court subsequently took suo motu cognisance, citing concern that a judicial officer's alleged involvement could dent public confidence in the justice system, and transferred the probe to the CBI. Both have been in custody since June 2, facing dowry death charges under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. In August, the CBI filed a 636-page charge sheet against them.

Singh's plea before the High Court comes after a special CBI court in Bhopal rejected her regular bail application last month, accepting that the probe was at a sensitive stage and her release could compromise it. That court noted her decades as a District and Sessions Judge gave her institutional influence that made witness or evidence interference a real, not remote, possibility. Opposing bail, the CBI had alleged she tried to influence the probe by reaching out to a CCTV technician and a salon operator, and by sending a representative to procure CCTV footage, while flagging her refusal to give a voice sample, citing call records, WhatsApp chats and witness statements already gathered.

Before the special court, the defence had also argued bail on humanitarian grounds, citing Singh's health in custody, the need to care for her nearly hundred-year-old mother, and rituals connected with Twisha's death. It was argued that Singh, drawing a regular pension along with a war widow's pension, was financially secure, making a dowry demand improbable. The court held none of these grounds outweighed the seriousness of the allegations.

Case Title: Smt. Giribala Singh v. The State of Madhya Pradesh

Date of Hearing: October 26, 2026

Bench: Justice Ajay Kumar Nirankari