Bhopal | The CBI on Thursday arrested former district judge Giribala Singh in connection with the death of her daughter-in-law Twisha Sharma, a day after the Madhya Pradesh High Court quashed her anticipatory bail.
A CBI team questioned Singh at her residence in Bhopal's Bag Mughaliya extension area before taking her into custody, officials said.
The agency is likely to produce the former judge before a competent court on Friday to seek her formal custody, they said.
Singh's son and Twisha’s husband Samarth, a lawyer by profession, is already in the custody of the central agency.
According to the officials, the CBI plans to confront the mother-son duo with each other's statements to probe the circumstances leading to the 33-year-old former model-actor's death.
A sessions court had granted anticipatory bail to the former district judge on May 15. However, the Madhya Pradesh High Court overturned the decision on Wednesday, allowing petitions that sought the cancellation of her bail.
In a 17-page order, Justice Devnarayan Mishra observed that "in the light of the factual aspects of the case and the allegations levelled against the respondent (Giribala Singh), the anticipatory bail granted by the additional sessions judge deserved to be quashed."
During the high court hearing, counsels representing Twisha's family argued that she was subjected to severe mental harassment and was "badly stuck" in her matrimonial home.
The petitioners further alleged that Singh attempted to tamper with evidence after securing bail and pointed out that while the police had seized CCTV footage from her house on May 13, selective clips were later leaked on social media in an alleged bid to influence the investigation.
The CBI formally took over the probe on Monday, re-registering the FIR originally filed by the Madhya Pradesh Police, which names both Samarth and Giribala Singh as accused.
Twisha was allegedly found hanging at her marital home on May 12. According to the FIR, Samarth had brought her to AIIMS Bhopal, claiming she hanged herself at home at 10:20 pm. Doctors at the hospital informed the police at 12:05 am on May 13 that she was brought dead.
The subsequent postmortem report showed that while the cause of death was "antemortem hanging by ligature", there were also "multiple antemortem injuries (simple in nature possibly by blunt force over other parts of the body)."
Following the autopsy report and statements from Twisha's family, the police registered an FIR early on May 15.
On May 24, a team of doctors from AIIMS-Delhi conducted a second postmortem of Twisha in Bhopal following directions from the Madhya Pradesh High Court, after her parents raised serious concerns about procedural lapses by local authorities.
Twisha's family members alleged that she was relentlessly tormented and subjected to domestic violence by her husband and mother-in-law, who were reportedly dissatisfied with the dowry provided during their marriage on December 9, 2025. They maintained that this severe mental and physical torture drove the former model to take the extreme step.
Prior to her arrest, Giribala Singh had defended herself in various media interviews, denying the allegations and raising counterclaims regarding Twisha’s mental health and medical history.
