Apoorva Shukla had allegedly "smothered and strangulated" Rohit Shekhar, following an argument with him for drinking alcohol with his sister-in-law. (Photo: File)

Seven months before he was strangulated to death, a video clip recorded by Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, the son of late veteran politician ND Tiwari, turned out be one of the crucial pieces of evidence for the Delhi Police in its bid to nail the prime accused -- Shekhar's wife Apoorva Shukla.

In a video message shot on his phone in September last year, hours after his bypass surgery at a Delhi hospital, Rohit Shekhar claimed his wife might kill him.

"She has threatened to destroy me and take away everything. My wife, Apoorva Shukla, is blackmailing me and mentally torturing me to grab my properties. This may be considered a dying declaration if anything happens to me in the near future," Rohit Shekhar was quoted as saying in the clip by the Times Of India.

Police say Rohit Shekhar recorded the video after following a spat with his wife at the hospital on September 17. "I will see you," Apoorva Shukla had apparently threatened Rohit Tiwari as she hurled abuses at her sick husband, sources have told the daily.

Police reportedly seized another video in which Apoorva apologises for her misbehaviour. This video is dated September 18.

Apoorva, 35, was on Thursday charged with killing her husband Rohit Tiwari after the Delhi Police filed a chargesheet against her at the Saket court.

OF A FAILED MARRIAGE AND CHILD OUTSIDE WEDLOCK

Rohit Shekhar and Apoorva Shukla's marriage was anything but successful. In the chargesheet, police have said based on witness accounts, the two had a failed relationship.

Shukla reportedly married Rohit Tiwari to boost her political career and acquire the wealth of his father and veteran politician ND TIwari.

However, failure on these two fronts only added to Apoorva's frustration, the chargesheet mentions.

Police claim that after Rohit Tiwari's brother Siddharth made it clear that his share of property would go the son of a female family friend, Apoorva feared Rohit would also do the same.

"Rohit had also expressed similar sentiments at times. This further angered Apoorva who felt miserable in the given circumstances. She was not a nominee for any property or the fixed deposits of the family," the police report as quoted by TOI.

Apoorva also suspected her husband of having an affair with the female friend. The chargesheet says Apoorva suspected that the child born to the woman after 22 years of marriage was actually Rohit's.

On the night of the alleged incident, police said Apoorva asked Rohit about the female friend during an intimate moment around 12.45 am.

Apoorva had seen the two sitting together in the car on a Whatsapp video call. Teasing Apoorva, Rohit told her that they were drinking from the same glass.

"Outraged, she pounced on him and began to hit him. She was sitting on top of Rohit's chest and she smothered him with a pillow. After a while, he fell unconscious. Then she strangulated him with her hands to make sure that he had died. After that, she put the pillow beneath his head," the chargesheet notes.

With her husband dead, Apoorva left the room.

She hoped Rohit's death would pass off as natural death because he was already a heart patient and had a history of brain stroke, the chargesheet adds.

ROHIT'S DIVORCE PLAN

Unhappy in his marriage, Rohit Tiwari had told his friend that he was planning to divorce Apoorva, The Indian Express has reported.

In the chargesheet, the police mention that Rohit had told his advocate friend that his marriage was not good and he planned to divorce Apoorva.

A female lawyer has been charged with killing her husband Rohit Shekhar Tiwari, the son of late veteran politician N D Tiwari, by allegedly smothering and strangulating him following an argument over him drinking alcohol with his sister-in-law.

APOORVA CHARGED WITH MURDER

A 518-page chargesheet was filed on Thursday which named 56 witnesses, including Shekhar's mother Ujjwala Tiwari.

Apoorva Shukla, a lawyer, has been charged under Section 302, which relates to murder and is punishable with death or life imprisonment.

The police have named the sister-in-law and Shekhar's lawyer Vedanta Verma, who fought the long battle over his paternity suit, as one of the witnesses.

Shekhar was killed on the intervening night of April 15 and 16. Among the triggers that led to the killing was a "turbulent and unhappy" married life.

Apoorva met Shekhar through a matrimonial website in 2017 and got married in May last year. Within 14-15 days of the marriage, she started staying away from the house.

READ | Rohit Shekhar's murder: How an unhappy marriage drove a wife to kill the man she loved

READ | Pati, patni aur woh: Why Apoorva Shukla murdered husband Rohit Shekhar

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