Rohit Tiwari death due to smothering: Autopsy report

New Delhi: Three days after the death of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, the son of former Congress stalwart N.D. Tiwari, the autopsy report revealed that his death was “unnatural.”

Police sources claimed that he was most probably either strangulated or smothered with a pillow. The 40-year-old Rohit Tiwari was earlier said to have died owing to cardiac arrest.

The district police has transferred the case to the crime branch of the Delhi police, which has registered a case of murder and initiated a probe. The autopsy report, which came on late Thursday night, suggests that the cause of death is unnatural.

“Following the post mortem at AIIMS, police registered a case of murder on Thursday and transferred it to the crime branch for investigation,” a senior police officer said. The autopsy was conducted by a medical board comprising of five senior doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

“The medical board unanimously concluded that the cause of death in this case is asphyxia as a result of strangulation or smothering. It is a sudden unnatural death, placed in the category of homicide,” said Dr Sudhir Gupta, the head of AIIMS’ forensic department.

The crime branch officials visited Rohit Shekhar’s house in Defence Colony on Friday and questioned his family members and domestic helps.

Police sources said that there are seven CCTV cameras — of which two don’t work — in Rohit Shekhar’s house.

“Rohit had gone to Uttarakhand to vote on April 12 and returned on the night of April 15. He could be seen on CCTV taking support of the wall while walking in an inebriated state,” police sources added.

Apart from probing property related issues, the police is also looking for a conspiracy angle to ascertain who wanted to eliminate Rohit Shekhar.

An official privy to the investigation said that the fact behind the murder will emerge once the investigation is completed.

According to DCP (South district) Vijay Kumar, Rohit’s mother Ujjwala Tiwari was in Max Hospital for her treatment when she received a phone call from home that he was unwell and bleeding from the nose.

“An ambulance call was made to the hospital. Ujjwala reached her residence along with the ambulance that brought Rohit to hospital,” said the DCP.

According to an official statement from Max Healthcare, “Max Hospital received an emergency call from the residence of Rohit Shekhar at 4.41 pm. An ambulance brought Tiwari to Max Hospital in Saket, where he was declared brought dead.”