Apoorva Shukla, Wife of ND Tiwari's Son Rohit Shekhar, Detained for 'Hatching a Conspiracy'

New Delhi: Rohit Shekhar Tiwari's wife, Apoorva Shukla, was detained on Sunday along with two domestic helps in connection with the death of ND Tiwari's son.

According to sources, Rohit's wife could be involved in hatching a conspiracy as police are looking at her as a prime suspect. On Saturday, Shukla was questioned for over eight hours by Crime Branch officials.

Late ND Tiwari's wife had two days ago said that her son and Shukla "did not share a cordial relationship".

"It is shocking to learn that my son was murdered. What do I say? Let the mourning end. Why was Rohit not woken up when he was sleeping till 4 pm (on Tuesday)?" his mother Ujjwala asked. She said Shekhar (40) and his wife "had issues since day one of their marriage".

Sources said that Rohit had dinner at 11:30 PM and consumed "half bottle of liquor", following which he died within two hours. Reacting to the information, ND Tiwari's wife Ujjwala said, "Some media reports said he was drunk, but he did not look like he was intoxicated."

She also recalled telling him that he should take rest as he recently underwent a bypass surgery.

Ujjwala said that she dialled Dr Sumit Sethi, who had been treating Shekhar since 2007 when he first suffered a heart attack. "My son was under some stress but I don't want to talk about it. By the time I reached home, Apoorva had made him lie down in someone's car. When I saw his condition, I had little hope left about his survival," she said.

Domestic help Bholu Mandal, who is a key witness in the case, revealed that blood was oozing out of Rohit's nose when he spotted him. ND Tiwari's son died on Tuesday. He was brought dead to the Max Hospital in Saket in south Delhi.

The autopsy, conducted by a medical board comprising five senior doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), stated that the cause of death is asphyxia "as a result of strangulation and smothering". "It is a sudden unnatural death, placed in the category of homicide," the head of the AIIMS' forensic department, Dr Sudhir Gupta, said.