NOIDA: Hours before she was found dead at her marital home in Bhopal, Twisha Sharma (31) called her mother in Noida. “I had an abortion. Book my ticket home, I don’t want to live here anymore”.
Her parents booked her a flight for May 15. But she never made that journey.
Instead, it was the parents who travelled overnight to Bhopal from their Gaur City apartment and found themselves outside a mortuary, waiting to receive her body.
For Twisha’s father Navnidhi Sharma, the date has become unbearable in more ways than one.
May 12 — the day his daughter died — was exactly a year since the family first met Bhopal-based lawyer Samarth Singh and his relatives at their flat for a small engagement ceremony and to finalise the marriage.
“On May 12, 2025, we met Samarth and his family for the first time at our home. We had no idea that exactly a year later, we would find our daughter dead. I curse my decision to agree to the marriage,” Navnidhi told TOI over phone from Bhopal, where the family remains as the legal battle continues.
Twisha, a beauty pageant winner in Pune who later built a corporate career as a communications manager with a German company, married Samarth on Dec 9, 2025. The two had met through a dating app in 2024.
Recalling the final call on the night of May 12, Navnidhi said Twisha spoke to her mother on WhatsApp around 10pm. “My daughter had undergone an abortion. She said she did not want to live with Samarth anymore and asked us to book her ticket to Noida. We immediately booked her flight for May 15. About 10 minutes into the call, we heard Samarth shouting in the background. The phone then got disconnected.”
Her mother tried repeatedly to call her back. “My wife called again and again, but Twisha did not answer. Then, we called Samarth and his mother, but nobody picked up. Around 10.35pm, Giribala Singh (Twisha’s mother-in-law) answered the call and only said, ‘she’s no more’. The phone then got disconnected,” he alleged.
The family then contacted an Army friend posted in Bhopal to check on Twisha and left Noida overnight. “We reached Bhopal on the morning of May 13. At first, we were not even allowed to see the body at the mortuary. Samarth and his mother were nowhere to be seen,” Navnidhi said.
When the parents finally saw her, they were shattered. “My wife collapsed on the ground. Our daughter was in a terrible condition. There were bruises all over her body and ligature marks around the neck,” he claimed.
According to the father, Twisha had already been telling them for weeks that she wanted to leave the marriage, she had told her family that she was 1 month pregnant in April.
In April, she returned to Noida after allegedly facing harassment from her husband and mother-in-law during her pregnancy.
Navnidhi alleged that when Twisha told them she was pregnant, she was met not with support but suspicion and pressure. “They kept telling her the child belonged to someone else and she should abort the baby if she wanted to continue living in that house,” he said.
Around that time, Navnidhi was undergoing angiography at RR Hospital in Noida. During one such visit to the doctor, Twisha opened up fully. “She told me she had made a bad decision in marrying S. I told her she could stay with us forever. But she said she would first go back, get the abortion done with Samarth’s consent, and see if their behaviour improved. Otherwise, she would return and start life afresh.”
On April 22, Twisha went back to Bhopal with her father and brother Harshit Sharma — an Army major — in an attempt to resolve the dispute. “She genuinely tried to save the marriage. Both families sat together. Samarth assured us he would take care of her and there would be no further complaints,” Navnidhi said.
But the strain had begun to unravel much earlier. “The word dowry was never directly used before marriage. But there were clear expectations about the scale of the wedding, jewellery, clothes and arrangements from the girl’s side,” Navnidhi recounted.
He claimed that even on the wedding day, the groom’s side objected to the hospitality and arrangements for drivers. “They said the arrangements were below their standards. To calm things down and ensure the wedding went ahead peacefully, we gave them Rs 2 lakh,” he added.
The warning signs continued. During their honeymoon, Navnidhi alleged, Twisha told her brother that Samarth had pushed her at the airport after a minor argument. “Maybe, we made a mistake by ignoring that incident then,” he said.
After marriage, Twisha was repeatedly taunted over wedding expenses and lifestyle expectations. “They did not even give her money for daily expenses. Whenever she needed money, I transferred it to her online,” he said.
The family has also accused Bhopal police of initially refusing to register their complaint. “We first went to the local police station, but our complaint was not taken. Then, we approached the commissioner of police. We were told ‘balance’ needed to be maintained in the case,” Navnidhi added.
It was only after Twisha’s relatives protested outside the police commissioner’s office and later near the chief minister’s residence that an FIR was registered on May 15. The FIR, he alleged, does not reflect their complaint accurately. “Facts have been altered. We are not shown as complainants. The ACP is the complainant, and the FIR has been written according to their version rather than our written complaint,” Navnidhi told TOI.
The FIR was registered under BNS sections 80 for dowry death, 85 for cruelty by husband or relatives of husband, and 3(5) for acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention, police said.
The family has questioned the autopsy conducted in Bhopal and is seeking a second procedure at AIIMS Delhi. “Important details are missing in the report. There is no proper mention of the material used for hanging, and there is inadequate mention of the bruises and assault marks visible on her body,” Navnidhi alleged.
Twisha’s body has remained at the AIIMS Bhopal mortuary as the family presses for a second autopsy. “They want us to perform the last rites quickly so that evidence gets destroyed. But we will continue to fight for justice,” he said.
Originally from Hathras, the Sharma family lived for years in Pune before moving to Greater Noida West in 2016. Twisha studied largely in Pune and, her father said, stood out early for her confidence, cultural interests and academic performance. She completed a BBA from Indira University and won the Miss Pune title in 2013.
“After winning the contest, she began getting modelling offers and promotional shoots. She felt she could build something of her own,” he said.
That visibility later led to work in movies, including the Telugu film Mugguru Monagallu, which was released in 2021. During the Covid pandemic, she shifted towards the corporate sector, pursued an MBA through distance learning from Narsee Monjee Institute, and joined a German company as a communications manager handling international assignments.
For her family, though, the public profile is only one part of who Twisha was. “She called us every day to ask if we had taken medicines. She would take me to the hospital herself. Her mother has lost not just a daughter, but her best friend,” Navnidhi said.
“The light of our life is gone. We cannot eat or sleep. I do not know where I am getting the strength from. But I will keep fighting for my daughter.”
While Twisha’s mother-in-law — a retired judge — has got anticipatory bail, Samarth’s appeal has been rejected by a Bhopal court.
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