New Delhi, The Delhi Police on Thursday filed a chargesheet against Apoorva Shukla, who was arrested for allegedly murdering her husband Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, son of former Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand chief minister N.D. Tiwari.
A 518-page chargesheet was filed at the Saket court and named 56
witnesses, including Rohit Shekhar’s mother Ujjwala Tiwari.
Police sources said in the chargesheet Shukla, a 35-year-old lawyer, has been charged under Section 302, which pertains to murder and is punishable with death or life imprisonment.
Rohit Shekhar Tiwari was smothered and strangled to death allegedly by his wife Apoorva in the intervening night of April 15-16, the police had said at the time of her arrest.
Initially, it was suspected to be a case of natural death, but Tiwari’s autopsy report revealed he was smothered.
It has been mentioned in the chargesheet that Shukla had suspected her husband of having an affair with his sister-in-law and from whom he had a son as well. She was afraid that the property might go to him.
She had allegedly murdered him following an argument with him for drinking alcohol with his sister-in-law.
After marrying Rohit Shekhar, Shukla realised that her political ambitions would not be fulfilled as her husband had no political standing. While Rohit’s mother Ujjwala Tiwari and sister-in-law had adviced him to end his marriage and for the same a decision was reportedly taken on the couple’s divorce in June, said a senior police officer.
Apoorva Shukla met Rohit Shekhar, son of N.D. Tiwari, through a matrimonial website in 2017. Within a year, they got married, said a senior investigator.
The official added that she knew that he belonged to a big political family.
The investigator told IANS that within 14-15 days of the marriage, Apoorva started staying away from the house.
In July 2018, when Rohit was admitted to a hospital, she had served him a legal notice, but eventually reconciled.
The chargesheet states that on April 15, Rohit Shekhar, his sister-in-law, N.D. Tiwari’s close aide, and two of their employees were returning from Haldwani, Uttarakhand after casting their vote, when Shukla had made a video call to Rohit Shekhar to ask him what he wanted to have for dinner.
When Apoorva video called Rohit, she saw him drinking with a woman relative in the same glass while he was on his way back to Delhi after casting his vote in Uttarakhand. Shukla, at the time of video call, didn’t react to the same.
“The chargesheet revealed that Rohit returned home drunk around 10 p.m. He had dinner alone and went to his room, and in between came out to meet his mother. Around 12.45 a.m. Shukla went to the room after watching TV following which an argument took place between the couple over drinking,” sources told IANS.
Following the scuffle, Apurva got agitated and strangled him to death. The CFSL reports suggested that there was no outsider entry.
The autopsy performed by a board of five doctors on April 17 revealed that Rohit died due to asphyxiation, police said.
A case of murder (Section 302 of Indian Penal Code) was registered after the post-mortem reports.
The case was then transferred to the Crime Branch.
A team of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) had also reached the Defence Colony residence of Rohit and recreated the crime scene and collected evidence in an attempt to unravel the mystery behind the death of veteran Congress leader’s son.
