Samarth Singh's Surrender Attempt Mockery Of Judiciary: Twisha Sharma's Father

Samarth Singh's attempt to surrender in a Jabalpur court after being on the run for 10 days was a mockery of the judiciary, Twisha Sharma's father, Navnidhi Sharma, has said, alleging that Singh was trying to avoid police custody through a "backdoor process".

Samarth, Twisha's husband, was arrested by the police on Friday after the Jabalpur court asked him to surrender before a court in Bhopal instead.

Speaking to NDTV, Navnidhi Sharma said the Madhya Pradesh High Court had directed that Samarth could surrender only before the trial court or the investigating officer. He alleged that before the official order papers could reach authorities, an attempt was made by Samarth, who is a lawyer, to secure relief through proceedings in the Jabalpur court.

Sharma also alleged that there was chaos outside the court premises. He claimed that around 150 to 200 people had gathered outside and that his lawyer, mediapersons and supporters were allegedly threatened and assaulted. He said even his lawyer, who has over 35 years of legal experience, had never witnessed such a situation before.

Calling it a "black day in judicial history", Sharma alleged that the family was not given a proper opportunity to present arguments before the order was passed. He claimed that police protection was being provided to the accused while the victim's side faced intimidation outside the court premises.

Speaking about the surrender attempt, Sharma alleged that it was done deliberately to avoid custody. He noted that a lookout notice had been issued against Samarth and there was also a reward for information leading to his arrest. The police, he stressed, should have taken steps to arrest him instead of allowing what he described as a "dramatic surrender process".

Sharma also reiterated his demand for an immediate CBI takeover of the case. He expressed fear that if there was any delay in the central agency taking charge, evidence could be destroyed or manipulated. "CBI should take immediate charge and stop all these activities," he told NDTV.

On the court allowing a second postmortem, Sharma said the family had been demanding it from the very beginning. He claimed that the first postmortem report appeared to be incomplete and alleged that several important technical findings were ignored.