Dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar were on Wednesday charged by a CBI special court in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, with murder and destruction of evidence in the killing of their teenaged daughter Aarushi and servant Hemraj nearly three years ago. Both have been charged under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of
evidence) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention to commit a crime) of the Indian Penal Code in the sensational Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case.
The Uttar Pradesh police had arrested Dr Rajesh Talwar soon after the May 2008 killings as an accused in the case. However, following an outcry over the alleged character assassination of both Rajesh Talwar and his dead daughter Aarushi, the case was transferred to the CBI, which later arrested three servants in the case — Rajkumar, Vijay Mandal and Krishna. But the agency was unable to come up with concrete evidence against any of them.
Taking several points mentioned in the closure report filed by the CBI as evidence against the Talwar couple, special CBI judge Preeti Singh ordered that they be made accused in the double murder. The court, reinterpreting the CBI closure report, added Dr Nupur Talwar as a co-accused in the case. The CBI had not specifically referred to her involvement in the case in its report.
After the court pronounced its order, the Talwars’ lawyer, Ms Rebecca John, said the order would be challenged in a higher court. Ms John said the CBI court’s order could be challenged either in a sessions court or in the Allahabad high court, and this would be done soon after she got a copy of the order.
“The court has taken cognisance of the closure report of the CBI. The court has made them accused under Sections 302, 201 read with 34 of the IPC and summoned Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar in the case for February 28,” lawyer R.K. Saini, appearing for the CBI, told this newspaper.
While naming Aarushi’s parents as accused in the case, the court said the circumstantial evidence in the report was good enough to press charges and put both on trial. It also rejected Dr Rajesh Talwar’s petition protesting against the CBI’s closure report, which had named him as a suspect. The report had, however, said that there was not enough evidence to charge him in the double murder.
The CBI special court, after completing the procedural formalities, will remand the case to a sessions court for framing of charges and the Talwars’ subsequent trial.
When the judge pronounced the order, neither the Talwars not their principal lawyer, Ms John, were present in the courtroom.
“The parents of Aarushi have only been summoned. We will see what happens on February 28. We will deal with it. There is no question of the arrest of the parents. The CBI court’s order is not a final order. We will definitely challenge it in a superior court,” Ms John said.
The CBI maintains that despite all the circumstantial evidence, it is not enough to nail anyone in the case. The murder weapon is yet to be found, and the motive for the double murder is also not clear, its closure report says.
The CBI’s counsel had earlier submitted that there was no scope for any further investigation in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case and had sought the court’s permission to close the case.
Aarushi’s parents, in their petition, had earlier alleged that there were “deliberate lapses” in the investigation, and “non-mentioning of material pieces of evidence”. They had also asked for further investigation to be ordered “so that the culprits involved in this heinous crime are apprehended and brought to trial”.
On May 17, 2008, 14-year-old schoolgirl Aarushi Talwar was found dead with her throat slit in her bedroom at her parents’ house in Noida’s Jal Vayu Vihar. The next day, the body of the Talwars’ servant, Hemraj, was also found on the terrace of their house. Dr Rajesh Talwar was arrested a week after the murders but released three months later after the CBI said it did not have any evidence against him.