Bhopal, Jul 14 (PTI) A local court on Tuesday extended till July 28 the judicial custody of Samarth Singh and his mother Giribala Singh in the death case of former model-turned-actor Twisha Sharma, following the CBI’s allegations that they were not cooperating in providing voice samples.
During the hearing, the mother-son duo appeared before the Bhopal District and Sessions Court via video conference.
Twisha was found hanging at her in-laws’ house in Bhopal on May 12. Her husband Samarth Singh and her mother-in-law Giribala Singh, a former district judge, were later arrested on charges of dowry-related harassment, mental abuse and domestic violence.
The CBI said that during the previous hearing, the two accused had expressed no objection to providing voice samples, but when its team visited the jail on July 6, they did not cooperate.
Ankur Pandey, lawyer for Twisha’s family, told PTI that citing this, the CBI had requested the court to extend their judicial custody till July 28, which the court accepted.
The CBI told the court that the investigation was getting hampered without the voice samples as the two accused were reluctant to provide them, he said.
Pandey stated that the CBI informed the court that Giribala, a former district judge, and Samarth refused to provide voice samples despite its orders.
Giribala provided a sample once, but when the CBI team arrived to collect the sample again, she refused, and Samarth also refused to give the sample, he said.
Enosh George Carlo, the lawyer representing Giribala and Samarth Singh, however, refuted the CBI’s allegations, stating that his clients never refused to provide voice samples.
He told reporters that despite being unwell, Giribala provided samples twice, but could not provide them the third time due to health reasons.
He added that Giribala Singh had requested the CBI to collect the sample the next day.
Carlo said that Samarth Singh is also cooperating fully with the investigation, but his objection is only to the process.
Pandey said that after hearing arguments from both sides, the court granted the CBI’s request to extend the judicial custody of Giribala and Samarth Singh by 14 days. PTI MAS NP
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