Talwars to be tried for Aarushi’s murder (Second Lead)

GHAZIABAD - Rejecting a closure report on the murder of teenager Aarushi Talwar, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court Wednesday ordered that her parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar be tried for the killing. They have been summoned to appear in court Feb 28.

CBI Special Magistrate Preeti Singh passed the ruling against the dentist couple, paving the way for the trial in the case for the first time since the murder of Aarushi and the family’s domestic help Hemraj in May 2008.

The CBI had on Dec 29, 2010 filed for closing the case, saying that Rajesh Talwar was the sole suspect in the case but there was no conclusive evidence against him. Talwar contested this and asked for a copy of the closure report but his request was denied.

Talwar had also submitted a 90-page rebuttal against the closure report.

The CBI magistrate ruled that the trial of the Talwars will be held under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence of offence) and 34 (criminal acts by several people) of the Indian Penal Code.

Nupur Talwar said: “It is a very unfortunate judgment. We will challenge this judgment in the superior court. The court has not looked into our 90-page protest petition.”

Rebecca John, the Talwars’ lawyer, said the family was shocked after the order.

“We will challenge the order and go to a higher court. We were surprised by the CBI closure report as it was full of such gaping holes,” she said.

“We are definitely taken aback by the order. Nothing can justify the summoning of Rajesh Talwar (for the next hearing) but having done it, we will go to higher court challenging the order,” she added.

Raising a question on the investigative agency, John said: “This was the present team which is saying it. The CBI, about a year-and-a-half back, said completely different thing. They hid the investigation done by the previous team of the CBI.”

Reacting to the developments, senior lawyer Khalid Khan said: “The court judgment is landmark and appreciable. The court has taken cognizance on the facts furnished.”

“In this case, the court has taken cognizance after rejecting the closure report,” he added.

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

Special Magistrate 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 had told the court.

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.

On Jan 25, Talwar was attacked outside court with a cleaver by a youth named Utsav Sharma who was protesting the CBI’s decision to close the case.

On Jan 30, People from all walks of life had gathered together at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to demand justice for Aarushi and had also held a candle-light vigil.