"During the fight, she pounced on him and smothered him."
The wife of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari was arrested on Wednesday, April 24, 2019, for his murder.
Apoorva Shukla Tiwari smothered her husband to death after becoming unhappy with their marriage.
Tiwari, the son of former union minister ND Tiwari was found unconscious at his home in South Delhi and was later declared dead. It was initially believed that he died of a cardiac arrest.
It was heard that Apoorva and the victim had a fractured relationship. Rohit’s mother Ujjwala Sharma said:
“They were not in touch from January to March 2018. But on April 2 they came to me and expressed their wish to get married.”
The marriage quickly deteriorated and eventually ended in June 2018.
A police officer added: “The situation turned so bad that Shekhar and Apoorva were living separately in the same house. They frequently fought with each other.”
On April 15, 2019, Rohit, his mother and another relative had returned from Kathgodam in Uttarakhand. Later that evening, Apoorva smothered him to death.
Additional Commissioner of Police Rajiv Ranjan said:
“On the night of the incident, the couple had a fight over a relative. Rohit had been drinking all the way from Uttarakhand to Delhi and was not in a condition to resist.
“During the fight, she pounced on him and smothered him.”
The Crime Branch was initially misled as Apoorva destroyed any evidence.
The victim’s servants were questioned and along with the CCTV footage, Rohit returned to his house in a drunken state and went straight to bed.
According to sources, two of the seven CCTV cameras in the house were not working.
His family did not wake him the next morning, however, a servant found him unconscious in his bed with blood coming out of his nose.
He was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead.
A post-mortem later revealed that Rohit died an “unnatural death” due to “strangulation and smothering”.
Police officers then registered a murder case under Section 302 of the IPC.
A forensic report connected Apoorva to the murder and she was taken in for questioning on Sunday, April 21, 2019. After three days, she confessed to the crime.
Ranjan said: “We have arrested Apoorva with the help of scientific evidence and a Forensic Science Laboratory report.
“She confessed that she has murdered her husband and said their marriage was unhappy.”
“She said her hopes and dreams were all dashed.”
Mrs Sharma said: “Apoorva had an affair with someone before getting married to Shekhar. Her family is money-minded and has always had an eye on our property.
“They wanted to grab the Defence Colony property from my sons Shekhar and Sidharth. Our house is close to the Supreme Court where Apoorva went for practice.”
Ranjan added: “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 Shekhar and his family were thinking of separation.
“After interrogation, it was found that Apoorva Shukla Tiwari and Rohit had a turbulent marriage. All her hopes with the marriage were belied.”
Rohit had fought a long court battle to prove that he was the son of ND Tiwari.
The former Chief Minister had refused to provide a DNA sample in 2012, but two years later, it was revealed that he was Rohit’s father.
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