A four-member team of senior doctors from AIIMS Delhi began a second autopsy on Twisha Sharma in Bhopal after the Madhya Pradesh High Court ordered a fresh examination.
Police have booked Twisha’s husband Samarth Singh and mother-in-law Giribala Singh for alleged dowry harassment; Samarth was arrested after being absconding for 10 days and is in police custody.
A team of doctors from AIIMS Delhi began conducting a second autopsy on former model-turned-actor Twisha Sharma in Bhopal on Sunday, according to family sources.
The fresh examination follows an order issued by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on May 22. In compliance with the court's directions, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, constituted a four-member panel of senior doctors to carry out the procedure. The team arrived in Bhopal on Saturday night.
Twisha, 33, was found hanging at her matrimonial home in Bhopal's Katara Hills area on May 12. Her family has accused her in-laws of dowry harassment and abetment to suicide, while her in-laws have maintained that she was battling drug addiction.
Family members said the second autopsy commenced on Sunday and that Twisha's last rites would be performed later in the evening.
The family has urged the AIIMS team to adopt a multidisciplinary forensic, pathological and radiological approach while examining the case. They have also requested an independent review of issues they believe were not adequately addressed during the first post-mortem conducted in Bhopal.
On Saturday, Twisha's father, Navnidhi Sharma, submitted a detailed representation along with a copy of the high court order to the medical board, outlining concerns about the initial autopsy.
Among the issues raised were alleged blunt force injuries on Twisha's left arm and forearm, the absence of detailed dissection to determine the depth and age of those injuries, and the lack of radiological examination of the neck and cervical structures.
The family also sought a comparison between the alleged ligature material and the injuries documented on her neck, and requested a toxicological analysis of the preserved viscera samples.
Additionally, the representation urged the medical board to assess whether findings relating to the face, eyes and lungs were consistent with hanging, strangulation, suffocation or any other possible cause of death.
Earlier, a senior doctor at AIIMS Bhopal, speaking on condition of anonymity, told PTI that the examination would be conducted strictly in accordance with the high court's directions, but declined to disclose the timing of the procedure.
Meanwhile, police have registered an FIR against Twisha's husband, lawyer Samarth Singh, and her mother-in-law, former district judge Giribala Singh, on charges of dowry-related harassment.
Samarth Singh was arrested in Jabalpur on Friday after remaining absconding for 10 days. A Bhopal court on Saturday remanded him to seven days of police custody.
(with PTI inputs)
