Twish death case: Former judge Giribala Singh arrested by CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday (May 28, 2026) arrested retired Bhopal district judge Giribala Singh in the Twisha Sharma molestation and dowry death case, a day after the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected the anticipatory bail granted to her by a local court on May 15.

Ms Singh, Twisha’s mother-in-law, was interrogated for six hours at her home in Bhopal before her arrest, the agency’s chief information officer Beena Yadav told The Hindu. On Thursday morning, several CBI officers reached Ms. Singh’s residence and conducted an investigation and recreated the crime scene.

Ms Yadav said Giribala Singh would be produced before a local court on Friday (May 29, 2026) and the CBI would seek her custody.

Twisha’s husband Samarth Singh, a lawyer, is in CBI custody. Ms Singh will be produced before the court and the CBI is expected to seek her custody. The agency plans to confront the mother and son with their statements and question them about the circumstances leading to Twisha’s death, officials said.

The anticipatory bail was granted just hours after the local police filed an FIR against Mrs. Singh and her son.

Late on Thursday (May 28, 2026), a single bench of Justice Devnarayan Mishra issued the order after hearing petitions by Twisha’s father Navnidhi Sharma and the state government challenging the bail.

Also read | Twisha Sharma death case: Supreme Court backs CBI probe, asks media to maintain restraint

In its opinion, the High Court noted that some of the injuries found on Twisha’s body “were not caused by the removal of the body from the ligatures or the transport to the hospital” and that one head injury “was pre-mortem” suffered before death.

“According to the post-mortem report, death was caused by antemortem hanging by ligature, but the autopsy also revealed that six other injuries were found on the body of the deceased, four of which were on the left arm, one on the ring finger and one on the head, and this was ante-mortem.” It is also clear from the inquiry report that these injuries were not caused by the removal of the body from the hospital or the removal of the body from the hospital.

The High Court observed that the trial court, while granting anticipatory bail, did not consider the allegations leveled by the victim’s family against Ms. Singh.

“In the light of the above factual aspects of the case and the charge leveled against the respondent (Mrs. Singh), the anticipatory bail order dated 15th May, 2026 passed by the 10th Additional Sessions Judge, Bhopal, for the offense punishable under Sections 80(2), 85, 3(5) & 23 BNS, Prohiber Act, 1961 is hereby set aside,” the court ruled.

The court’s comments prompted Twisha’s family to repeat claims that their daughter “was killed”.

During Thursday’s hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Madhya Pradesh government, argued that “the manner in which anticipatory bail was obtained raises doubts that the trial court did not consider the aspect relevant for granting anticipatory bail”.

“After being granted bail, the respondent held press conferences and implicated the deceased and violated the law. In such a serious matter where a girl aged about 33 lost her life, the respondent has no remorse and did not try to cooperate with the investigating agency. The trial court did not consider a single line of the prosecution documents,” he told the prosecution witnesses and fully believed the defense witnesses.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Twish’s father, said Ms Singh had used her “skills” learned during her time as a judge to “falsify” evidence and the crime scene.

“The respondent (Ms Singh) is a retired judicial officer and has been trained in special courses on cyber crime, cyber forensics and digital signature technology and crime scene management and used her skills to manipulate the crime scene…,” said Mr Luthra.

CBI Deputy Solicitor General Suyash Mohan Guru termed “mystery surrounding the death” and “possible involvement of influential accused”. He said the accused were unable to provide any explanation for some of the injuries found on Twisha’s body. Mr. Mohan Guru said that Ms. Singh’s sister, Rajbala Singh Bhadoriya, who is a private doctor in Bhopal, and another private doctor were present in the post-mortem room during the first autopsy conducted at AIIMS Bhopal on May 13.

Published – 28 May 2026 18:20 IST