Foul play in death of ND Tiwari's son

In a sensational turn of events, the police is now investigating foul play in the death of Rohit Shekhar, who had successfully fought a paternal suit against former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand N D Tiwari, after post mortem showed that he was strangled.

Police on Thursday registered a case of murder after post mortem showed that he died of "asphyxia" as he was strangulated and smothered. The case has now been transferred to Crime Branch.

"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, was quoted by PTI as saying.

Shekhar, who stays in south Delhi's Defence Colony, was brought to Max Hospital in south Delhi on Tuesday evening where doctors declared him brought dead.

Rohit had joined the BJP ahead of the 2017 Uttarakhand assembly polls. He had recently indicated he could join Congress.

In 2008, Rohit filed the paternity suit claiming that Tiwari was his biological father following which the court had ordered DNA mapping of Tiwari, which was finally done in 2012. Delhi High Court had later rejected Tiwari's plea to keep the result secret and the results were released which established the senior leader as Rohit's biological father.

In 2014, Tiwari finally accepted that Rohit was his son after lawsuits and a DNA test. Tiwari, a senior Congress leader who was upset with the party in his later years, passed away last October.