Rohit Shekhar Tiwari was lying dead in house for 15 hours, family's role under scanner: Reports

Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, son of late son of late Uttarakhand chief minister ND Tiwari, died an ‘unnatural death’ due to “asphyxia” as he was strangulated and smothered to death, according to the post-mortem report.

"The medical board unanimously concluded that the cause of death in this case 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.

Following the post-mortem at AIIMS in Delhi, police on Thursday registered a case of murder and transferred it to the Crime Branch for investigation.

Certain revelations from the autopsy report and sequence of events seem to be leading the focus of the investigation on the role of Rohit’s family.

According to an India Today report, the post-mortem report states Rohit’s time of death at 1:30 am on April 16. However, he was taken to the hospital around 5 in the evening. This means that he was lying dead inside the house for almost 15 hours.

The footage from CCTV cameras installed in and around the house and the testimony of servants revealed that Rohit came back home in an inebriated state and could be seen taking support of walls while walking.

Also, no one from the family lodged a complaint following Rohit’s death.

Apart from the domestic help, Rohit’s brother and wife were inside the house when he died. His mother Ujjwala Tiwari, who was admitted at Max hospital, received a call from her house about her son being "unwell and bleeding from the nose".

"Max hospital received an emergency call from the residence of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari at 4:41 pm this (Tuesday) afternoon. An ambulance brought Tiwari to Max Hospital, Saket, where he was declared brought dead at the emergency department," the hospital had said in a statement.

Despite the autopsy report revealing strangulation and smothering as the cause of death, Ujjwala said that she "does not see any conspiracy" behind her son's death, according to a News18 report.

She said she fails to understand why the probe was handed over to the crime branch, adding that “if there is any conspiracy, then I wish God does justice with everyone”.

News18 further quoted her saying that Rohit was in depression while sources said that he was on medication and often “behaved aggressively” inside the house.

Crime Branch officers visited Rohit Tiwari's residence on Friday and questioned his family members and domestic helps, police said, adding that a team of forensic experts also visited the house.

The officers are going through footage from CCTV cameras installed in and around the house to find leads, ascertain the sequence of events and track people who entered the house, they said.