New Delhi, September 16: The three persons arrested in connection with the recovery of the cell phone of Aarushi Talwar, on their release on Wednesday pleaded innocence and accused the CBI of torturing them and threatening them.
Speaking to Zeenews, the three – Rambhool, his sister Kusum and brother-in-law Vyas – claimed that they have nothing to do with the murder.
Rambhool, from whose possession the phone was found, claimed that he was absolutely innocent. He said the police tortured him and threatened to strip his sister naked if he doesn’t reveal the truth.
He also claimed that his interrogators forced him to sign on blank papers, before allowing him to leave.
Giving an account of the mobile trail, Rambhool – who the police claimed to have recovered the missing mobile from (though later another person Jeetendra – claimed that the police recovered the missing mobile from him and asked him to keep his mouth shut) – said that his sister gave him the mobile and at that time there was neither any SIM card nor any memory card in the mobile. He further stated that he gave the mobile to his friend Vijay Pal Singh for about two months and it was only in January-February that he inserted a SIM into it and started using it.
Rambhool denied the presence of any distinctive thing in the mobile and said there were no missed calls, call list or any such record. He also cleared the Jeetendra mystery by saying that he belonged to his village and asked him for the mobile for a few days, which he gave it to him sans the SIM card.
Her sister Kusum, who was also present alongside said that she found the mobile last summer on her way to Sector 40 and gave it to her brother after 15 days. She claimed ignorance about the use of mobile and said that she didn’t know how to use a cellphone.
Earlier, talking to Zee News, Jeetendra said that the police had recovered the phone from him and coerced him to keep his mouth shut. He also accused the police of beating him and threatening to harass his family.
The investigating agency, CBI, has been maintaining a studied silence over the recovery of the mobile phone by Delhi Police’s Crime Branch from a town in Uttar Pradesh.
CBI spokesperson Harsh Bahal declined to confirm or deny whether the premier investigating agency had got the mobile from Delhi Police. The instrument that could give some clues has been missing since the sensational double murder in Noida.
The cellphone bearing the International Mobile Equipment Identity IMEI), same as Aarushi’s Nokia N-72, was allegedly recovered from Ramphool, a class IV government employee, in Khurja locality of Bulandshahr on Saturday after it tracked down the phone, which was under its surveillance, 16 months after the girl and her domestic help Hemraj were found murdered in her Noida home.
–Agencies