CBI court tells Talwars to attend hearing, issues warrants

GHAZIABAD/ALLAHABAD - A CBI special court here Monday issued bailable warrants against Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, the parents of murdered teenager Aarushi Talwar, after they failed to appear before it, while the Allahabad High Court continued to hear their plea against their being tried for the crime.

The Ghaziabad-based Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court, earlier this month, ordered that Aarushi’s doctor parents should be tried for the gruesome killing of their own daughter in Noida about three years ago.

On Monday, CBI Special Magistrate Preeti Singh said that bonds of Rs.20,000 each deposited by Rajesh and Nupur Talwar would be forfeited if they fail to appear before her at the next hearing March 22.

Earlier, the Talwar couple submitted separate applications seeking exemption from personal appearance in the trial court.

Rajesh Talwar, in his application filed through lawyer Satish Tamta, submitted that he was medically unfit to appear before the court Monday.

He submitted that after an assault on him in the court premises last December, he sustained injuries on his head, face and both hands. He claimed he was also suffering from a urinary tract infection. He asked the court to exempt him from personal appearance.

Nupur Talwar, in her application, said that she was unable to appear before the court since she had to appear before the Allahabad High Court to submit an affidavit in an appeal filed by her against the order of the CBI court.

We are concentrating on the Allahbad High Court, where Nupur Talwar has submitted an additional affidavit along with a document obtained from the CBI court, said Rebecca John, the advocate for the Talwars.

In Allahabad, senior advocate Gopal Chaturvedi concluded his arguments on behalf of the Talwars before a high court bench of Justice B.K. Narayana.

Chaturvedi opposed the Ghaziabad court’s move on the plea that the CBI had not found anything against Nupur Talwar.

“Besides the fact that nothing was held out against Nupur Talwar, a petition was already pending in that regard before the Supreme Court,” Chaturvedi told IANS.

His arguments were aimed at proving that the CBI had carried out a “shoddy and half-baked” investigation.

Arguing against the Ghaziabad court’s order indicting Rajesh Talwar, Chaturvedi questioned “how that court had ignored a DNA sample match between the pillows used by Talwar’s domestic help Hemraj (who was also killed with Aarushi) and that of his friend Krishna”.

Aarushi, a Class 9 student of Delhi Public School, Noida, was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in her parents’ Jal Vayu Vihar apartment 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.

The CBI submitted its closure report Dec 29 last year. It was rejected by the Ghaziabad court Feb 9.