Face of Nation : Lawyer Apoorva Shukla has been charged with killing her husband Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, the son of late veteran politician N D Tiwari, by allegedly smothering and strangulating him following an argument over him drinking alcohol with his sister-in-law.
A chargesheet against Shukla, who was arrested in connection with the killing of her husband, was filed by the Delhi Police, a police official said Thursday.
The official said the 518-page charge sheet was filed at the Saket Court and named 56 witnesses, including Shekhar’s mother Ujjwala Tiwari.
Shukla, 35, was charged under Section 302, which relates to murder and is punishable with death or life imprisonment, according to the charge sheet.
She had allegedly “smothered and strangulated” Shekhar following an argument with him for drinking alcohol with his sister-in-law, whom she did not like, from the same glass, it said. Shukla also suspected that her husband had a son with his sister-in-law and was afraid that the property might go to him, it added.
The police have also named the sister-in-law and Shekhar’s lawyer Vedanta Verma, who fought the long battle over his paternity suit, as one of the witnesses. Shekhar was killed on the intervening night of April 15 and 16 this year. Among the triggers that led to the killing was a “turbulent and unhappy” married life and his plan to give his share of the property to his sister-in-law’s son, the charge sheet said.
Shukla had political ambitions, but after she got married to Shekhar she realised that he did not have any political standing and found her dreams would not be fulfilled, it mentioned.
His mother Ujjwala and sister-in-law felt he should end his marriage and a decision was supposed to be taken for the couple’s divorce in June, police had said.
Shukla met Shekhar through a matrimonial website in 2017 and got married in May last year, police said, adding that she was aware he was the son of N D Tiwari, a former Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand chief minister.
Within 14-15 days of the marriage, she started staying away from the house, the charge sheet said. In July last year, when he was admitted to a Delhi hospital, she had served him a legal notice, but they had later reconciled.
On April 15, Shekhar, his sister-in-law, N D Tiwari’s close aide, and two of their other employees were returning from Haldwani, Uttarakhand after casting their votes, and Shukla had made a video call to Shekhar to ask him what he wanted to have for dinner, according to the charge sheet.
During the course of the video call, she might have seen the woman relative in the car having liquor with Shekhar, but she did not say anything, it said. After Shekhar returned home around 10 pm, he had dinner alone and went to his room, and in between came out to meet his mother.
Around 12.45 am, Shukla went to Shekhar’s room after watching TV. While they were in the room, she had an argument with him for drinking alcohol from the same glass as his sister-in-law, following which she allegedly killed him, the charge sheet said.
The forensic experts had said there was no outside entry to the room where Shekhar was found dead. The CCTV footage from his house, which showed that Shukla was one of the last persons to access Shekhar’s room, also has been cited as evidence, police said.
The forensic reports are awaited. Shekhar’s mother was at the Max Hospital in Saket for treatment when she received a call from home that he was unwell. She then took an ambulance that brought him to the hospital.
He was declared brought dead by doctors and his body was sent for postmortem to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, police said. The autopsy was done by a board of five doctors on April 17 and the report revealed that Shekhar died due to asphyxiation as he was smothered and strangulated, police said.
