- A Madhya Pradesh court ordered that Twisha Sharma's body be preserved at minus 80 degrees Celsius
- No morgue in the state can maintain that temperature
- AIIMS Bhopal's morgue can only preserve a body at minus 4 degrees Celsius
The authorities in Madhya Pradesh are facing a conundrum - how to store Twisha Sharma's body at minus 80 degrees Celsius? The difficult situation was brought about by a Bhopal court, which ordered that the woman's body be preserved at the temperature for long-term storage. The ground reality, however, is that no morgue across the vast state has such an advanced freezer facility.
In its order, the court clearly stated that for long-term preservation of the body, a temperature of minus 80 degrees Celsius is a prerequisite. However, AIIMS Bhopal, the state-of-the-art medical institute that has been storing Sharma's body in its mortuary since May 13, has told police that its morgue temperature can't go further down than minus 4 degrees Celsius, which can preserve the corpse for only four to five days.
The court has directed the Katara Hills police station to ensure effective preservation of the body, but the police and forensic department are now themselves in a dilemma over how the order can be complied with.
The court on Wednesday ordered the authorities to preserve the body, rejecting the family's demand for a second autopsy.
Also read: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister To Write To CBI For Probe Into Twisha Sharma Case
Senior forensic expert Dr DK Satpathy suggested that instead of conducting a second post-mortem, a large medical committee of experts from across the country should be constituted. The panel, he said, should include experts from cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and Delhi. Such a panel can independently review the first post-mortem report, he added.
He told NDTV that there is currently no mortuary system in Madhya Pradesh where a body can be preserved at minus 80 degrees Celsius.
Twisha Sharma, 33, died under suspicious circumstances. While the police claim she died by suicide, her family members alleged she was murdered by her in-laws.
Her husband, Samarth Singh, and mother-in-law, Giribala Singh, a retired judge, have been named as accused in the case. The man is on the run. His mother has accused Twisha of being a drug addict and blamed her alleged mental disorder for her death.
Also read: Twisha Sharma Death And The Public Declarations Of Her Mother-In-Law
The police, however, said they had found no evidence of drug abuse in the post-mortem report.
Meanwhile, Twisha Sharma's friend Prachi told NDTV that she had two phones - one for official purposes and one for personal use. The official phone was retrieved on the day of her death, but the personal phone was retrieved after 3 to 4 days, after the family pressured the police, she added.
She said Twisha had kept all the recordings of calls and videos saved on that phone, which could have proved her allegations of harassment over dowry.
