Finally! ND Tiwari gives blood sample in paternity case

After four years of a protracted legal battle, veteran Congress leader ND Tiwari today finally gave a blood sample which will establish whether he is the father of a 32-year-old man.

A number of police personnel were stationed outside the Dehradun residence of the former Andhra Pradesh governor as a team consisting of court and a medical officials went to collect the blood sample.

The petitioner in the case, Rohit  Shekhar and his mother Ujjwala Sharma also went to the Dehradun residence of Tiwari where his blood sample was to be taken.

“ND Tiwari knows that Rohit is his son. That’s why he trying to avoid the DNA test. I am glad that the courts have stepped him and ordered him to give his blood sample,” Ujjwala Sharma told reporters before leaving for Tiwari’s residence.

On 24 May the Supreme Court directed Tiwari to give his blood sample and dismissed his appeal against the Delhi High Court order which had ordered him to undergo the DNA test, saying that police force could be used to compel the 86-year-old leader to give the sample.

The court also directed that total confidentiality should be maintained while sending the blood sample to a CDFD laboratory in Hyderabad.

The Delhi High Court, in its 27 April order, had ordered Tiwari to undergo the DNA test in the paternity suit and had also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the veteran leader for refusing to comply thus far.

The paternity suit against Tiwari was filed by 32-year-old Shekhar in the Delhi High Court in 2008, seeking its direction to declare the Congress leader his biological father.

The Supreme Court did not stay the order of the Delhi High Court and opined that Tiwari should abide by the court orders as vital evidence may be lost for forever considering his old age.

Tiwari had on 1 June, 2011 refused to appear in the high court dispensary to give his blood sample to ascertain Rohit’s claim of being his biological son, saying he could not be forced to do so.