Rohit Shekhar Tiwari had unhappy life, wanted divorce from Apoorva: Lawyer

Vedanta Verma, the lawyer who fought the long battle of Rohit Shekar Tiwari's paternity suit, said he was contemplating divorce from his wife and rued that he did not find happiness even after his legal worries were over.

Rohit Shekhar, who was allegedly strangled and smothered to death by his wife Apoorva, had approached Verma to seek his advice for filing a divorce case. The lawyer expressed sadness at the fact that Rohit Shekhar had a difficult life and his worries continued even after he was accepted by former Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand chief minister ND Tiwari as his son.

"Rohit had a difficult life. He faced the stigma of being called an illegitimate son. His legal journey was path-breaking. The judgement he had will forever be a testimony to his journey. However, this had impacted his life. Once his legal worries were over, I had hoped that he would lead a happy life. Unfortunately, today he is dead and was allegedly killed by his wife," Verma told PTI.

The couple had a turbulent married life and on more than one occasion, Rohit had sought Verma's assistance in this regard, he said.

"Rohit did express his desire to take divorce from Apoorva. However, the final decision regarding divorce was not communicated to me. He did not give me a go-ahead regarding it," he said.

The couple had issues since day one of their marriage. However, Verma denied reports about Rohit having an affair with his sister-in-law and also said that there was no angle of any property dispute.

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Verma said the couple was married for less than a year and had met through a matrimonial site and were seeing each other on-and-off before getting married last year.

"Any reports pertaining to Rohit having an affair with his relative is absolutely false and there is no semblance of truth in this and to the best of my knowledge, there was no property dispute. Even the house that Rohit lived in was owned by his mother," the lawyer said.

Verma knew Apoorva as Rohit Shekhar's wife but did not have any personal and professional contact with her, despite having met in the court once since she is also a Supreme Court lawyer.

Rohit often spoke and sought advise from Verma on various occasions regarding his political career as well.

"I have advised him on several occasions on his political career because he trusted me. But I am not aware of his political career not taking off having any impact on his mental well-being," he said.

Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested Rohit Shekhar's lawyer wife on charges of his murder, citing a "turbulent and unhappy" marriage as the motive, a senior police official said.

Rohit Shekhar, the son of the late veteran politician ND Tiwari, was smothered to death on the intervening night of April 15 and 16, an autopsy report said.