The Delhi Police on Monday arrested wife of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari for allegedly killing him last week. Citing a turbulent and unhappy marriage as the motive behind the murder, police said Apoorva smothered her husband Rohit, the son of late veteran politician ND Tiwari and choked him with a pillow following a heated argument.
Apoorva was produced in Delhi’s Saket Court on Monday where she was send to two days police custody. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat allowed interrogation of Apoorva after police sought her three-day custody.
Rohit, 40, was smothered on the intervening night of April 15 and 16, an autopsy report said. Apoorva, a lawyer by profession, was being questioned by police for the last three days. Rohit was earlier believed to have died of a cardiac arrest but the autopsy report by the forensic experts of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), turned the case on its head. The autopsy said the cause of death was asphyxia as a result of strangulation and smothering and also stated that the death occurred within two hours of his last meal around 11 pm.
“Rohit had gone to Kathgodam in Uttarakhand to vote on April 10 and returned on the night of April 16. He was in an inebriated state when he returned home. During investigation it was also revealed that on way back to Delhi he had been drinking all the way along with a woman relative,” said Rajeev Ranjan, Additional Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch. “The couple had a fight over a relative. Rohit was in inebriate state and was not in a condition to resist,” said Additional CP.
“She has confessed to killing her husband. As of now, from the fact and circumstances, it seems the killing was not planned. The background was there that they had a turbulent marriage and Rohit and his family were thinking of separation.
After interrogation, it was found that Apoorva and Rohit had a rocky marriage and were not on good term owing to their inherent contradictions, said the Additional CP adding that discrepancies were found in her statements which led police to suspect her involvement.
“On April 16, nobody tried to wake Rohit because he suffered from insomnia (sleep disorder). After he failed to get up, one of his servants went into his room around 4 pm, and saw him lying on bed with a nosebleed,” said the Additional CP.
Rohit’s mother Ujjwala Tiwari was at Max Hospital for treatment when she received a call from home that he was unwell. She then took an ambulance that brought Rohit to the hospital. Rohit’s mother on Sunday had alleged that Apoorva and her family were money-minded and wanted to acquire the family property. She had earlier said the couple had started having fights right from the first day of marriage.
The judge also directed that the accused will be medically examined as per rules and allowed her lawyer to be present with her during interrogation and serve a copy of FIR. Police told the court that they want to find out more clues related to this case and ruled out the possibility of any other suspect. The lawyer appearing for Shukla opposed the plea for custody saying she has cooperated throughout the investigation.
Rohit joined the BJP ahead of the 2017 Uttarakhand Assembly polls and recently indicated that he could join the Congress. In 2012, ND Tiwari, who had quit as Andhra Pradesh Governor after a purported video of his sexual escapade was leaked, was forced to give samples of his DNA for a paternity test after warnings by the Delhi High Court.
In 2014, ND Tiwari finally accepted Rohit as his son, putting an end to a prolonged legal battle on the issue.
