Need for a re-look in Aarushi case, say Moily, NCW (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - As parents of murdered teenager Aarushi Talwar protested the closure of the over two-year-old unsolved case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily, National Commission of Women chairperson Girija Vyas and Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar asked the agency to review the case.

The case meanwhile took another turn with reports of Aarushi’s father Rajesh Talwar being named as the lone suspect in the case. The closure report has also been said to mention the fact that a Talwar family member called the doctor who conducted the post-mortem examination, trying to influence him.

Aarushi, the 14-year-old daughter of dentist parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in their Jalvayu Vihar apartment in Noida May 16, 2008. The family’s domestic help, Hemraj, was also found killed on the flat’s terrace a day later.

While Moily met CBI Director A.P. Singh to discuss the Aarushi murder in the wake of the agency seeking to close the case as “unsolved”, NCW chairperson Girija Vyas told reporters that she has written to Home Minister P. Chidambaram and the law minister on the case.

“Someone has killed Aarushi in a brutal and dastardly way. We need to take it seriously. I have today invited the director of the CBI for a discussion on this matter. Let us see how we can take it forward,” Moily said before the meeting.

According to the minister, it was not a question of reopening the case, but rather of finding out if anything further can be done in terms of investigations.

Echoing the concern, NCW director Girija Vyas described the case as saddening.

“India today has advanced greatly in the field of science and technology and it will be unfortunate if the CBI the premier investigating agency of the country expresses its helplessness to find and nail down the culprits of a murder as gruesome as Aarushi’s,” Vyas told reporters here

“I have this morning also written to the home minister and the law minister in this regard,” she added.

Joining Moily and Vyas, Meira Kumar said: We are worried about this… that a child is killed like this and she is not getting complete justice. We must think seriously about this.

However, reports that Talwar has been named as the only suspect irked the family and their lawyer blamed the CBI for not taking enough action to solve the case.

The Talwars have cooperated in all the tests that the CBI conducted. If these issues were there why didn’t they raise it earlier. Did they take any action against the doctor who conducted the post mortem, why didn’t these issues come up in last one and half years,” the couple’s lawyer Rebecca John said.

She however welcomed the law minister’s meeting with CBI chief.

“I am not aware as to what was spoken between the minister and the CBI director. From the point of view of the family of Aarushi Talwar, we can only say that when gruesome murders of this kind take place and when premier investigative agency investigates the matter, then we need something beyond a closure report,” said John.

“We need tangible explanations as to why it was not possible for them to crack this case. So, if that explanation is being sought by the law minister, we are very happy, we welcome it,” John added.

Moily, however, defended CBI and clarified that it was not a question of reopening the case, but rather of finding out if anything further can be done in terms of investigations.

“I must tell you that CBI always does a perfect job. We are proud of that institution. There is no question whether they do the job or not, but the question is whether it is a fit case for closing,” he said.

The CBI Wednesday sought the trial court’s permission to close Aarushi Talwar’s murder as an unsolved case on grounds of lack of conclusive evidence.