Twisha Sharma’s family now has to make a difficult decision.
The 33-year-old woman was found hanging on the terrace of her in-laws’ Bhopal home late on May 12, barely five months after her marriage. Her body that has been kept at AIIMS Bhopal mortuary since May 13 is decomposing, the police have informed the family.
The parents have been asked to take it back.
“Twisha’s body has been kept in the mortuary for a prolonged period and is highly likely to decompose. Therefore, we request that you kindly make arrangements to collect the body,” the police said in a letter to the family.
The victim’s father, Navnidhi Sharma, claimed that his daughter was being subjected to various forms of abuse, including physical abuse.
“Right now, the body has been kept at -4 degrees Celsius at AIIMS Bhopal mortuary. To prevent the body from decomposing, it must be kept at -80 degrees Celsius. This facility is not available at AIIMS Bhopal,” the police said in its letter to the family.
The first post-mortem was completed on May 13. The police have no objection to conducting a re-postmortem, the letter said.
WhatsApp chats between Twisha and her mother, Rekha Sharma, have revealed that she felt “trapped” in an unhappy marriage and faced mental torture and dowry harassment by her in-laws.
The post-mortem report of Twisha Sharma said the cause of death was “antemortem hanging by ligature,” while also documenting multiple simple injuries on different parts of her body caused by blunt force.
The report also noted abrasions on the left side of the neck, bruises on the left upper arm, left forearm, right wrist and right ring finger.
The medical board concluded that while hanging was the cause of death, the other injuries appeared to be simple antemortem injuries.
Earlier, the police announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for information leading to the arrest of Samarth Singh, the victim’s lawyer husband and the prime accused in the case.