Aarushi case: Parents to be tried for murder

GHAZIABAD - A special CBI court Wednesday ordered that Rajesh and Nupur Talwar be tried for the murder of their teenaged daughter Aarushi. The couple will also be prosecuted for destruction of evidence.

The CBI court had Tuesday adjourned till Wednesday its ruling on the investigating agency’s closure report in the teenager’s case.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Magistrate Preeti Singh was told by the probe agency that it had not found any substantial evidence in the case and a closure report was its only option.

“The fingerprints found on a (blood stained) wall also could not be verified by the forensic lab,” CBI lawyer R.K. Saini told the court.

“The Talwars did not cooperate in the investigation and the CBI did not find any substantial evidence. Hence it had no option but to submit the closure report.”

Saini requested the court to accept the closure report.

He said the probe agency failed to establish the motive and the sequence of the crime.

Satish Tamta, appearing for Rajesh Talwar, opposed the CBI plea and said the closure report should not be accepted as it “had not submitted the complete facts and evidence before the court”.

He urged the court to instruct the agency to investigate the case further using latest scientific techniques.

The lawyer said a low count DNA test should be conducted for the fingerprints on the blood stained wall on the terrace of Talwars’ Noida house.

The CBI opposed Saini’s plea and said the forensic lab already had shown its inability to conduct the highly expensive test.

Aarushi, 14, was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in her parents’ Jalvayu Vihar apartment in Noida, May 16, 2008. Their domestic help Hemraj was initially suspected for the killing, but his body was found on the flat’s terrace a day later.

Talwar was arrested soon after the murders but released when investigators could not find evidence to nail him.