Mumbai Anchor Arpita Tiwari Found Dead, Police Suspect Foul Play

Arpita Tiwari’s family says that her death was not caused by suicide, but indicates foul play.

The body of a 24-year old anchor was found in the second floor of a high-rise Malad building on Monday, 11 December. The deceased, Arpita Tiwari, was found semi-nude and appeared to have fallen from the 15th floor of her boyfriend’s friend’s building, the police told Asian Age.

According to Mumbai Mirror, the police, after reconstructing the series of events that led to Tiwari’s death, said that it seemed more likely that she had been pushed out of the window, than having jumped herself. Her family too told Asian Age, that while they have not arrived at a conclusion as to what actually transpired, they suspect foul play.

Shweta, Tiwari’s sister also told Asian Age that the latter had been having problems with her boyfriend, Pankaj Jadhav, for a few months now and had even shared some of them with her family.

All was not well between Arpita and Pankaj for the last few weeks, and she was seriously considering calling off the relationship, but was emotionally attached to him given the fact that they were together for a long time.

Shweta Tiwari, Ankita’s sister, told Asian Age

The police have narrowed down to Jadhav and his close friend, Amit Kumar, who were both present with her on the night before her death, as the prime suspects in the investigation, reported Mid-Day. The report also stated that four other people were present in the flat that night – two of them have been identified as Manish and Shrawan along with the cook, Krishna, while the fourth person has not been traced yet.

The Malwani Police told Asian Age that Tiwari along with Pankaj had visited the latter’s friend’s house on Sunday night, and that according to the watchman, the duo seemed quite happy while entering.

However, other sources told the newspaper that Kumar had said the couple were seen fighting in the bedroom, a few hours before everyone else in the house went to sleep. However, the report added that he couldn’t tell much about it, since they realised they were creating a scene and had shut the door.

While the Malwani police had reportedly suggested that Tiwari may have committed suicide, Shweta had refuted these claims and had demanded a proper CBI probe into the matter, reported Firstpost.

It’s a clear cut case of murder as no woman will commit suicide while she is semi-clad. We want a thorough probe into the matter. The case should be transferred to Crime Branch or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the Malwani police is trying to paint the murder case as ‘suicide’.

Shweta Tiwari told Firstpost

According to the same report, Tiwari’s body showed multiple external injuries as well. The police are waiting to hear back from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Kalina for chemical analysis on her viscera sample, it said.

(With inputs from Asian Age, Mumbai Mirror and Firstpost)