New Delhi: The sensational Aarushi murder case took a new twist on Friday with CBI raising doubts over the role of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar alleging they had tried to influence the doctor who conducted the post mortem on their 14-year-old daughter in 2008, a charge rubbished by the dentist couple.
In its 30-page closure report submitted to a Ghaziabad court on December 29, the CBI said that Rajesh and Nupur had Aarushi’s room washed up after asking the UP Police to rush to the railway station to nab their domestic help — Hemraj — on May 16th morning.
Aarushi was murdered in the intervening night of May 15-16 in 2008 at the Talwar’s residence in Noida near Delhi. The body of Hemraj was found on the terrace the next day.
Aarushi’s parents had tried to “influence” the doctor who conducted the postmortem in a Noida hopsital, the CBI said.
“Its absolutely bizarre and absurd allegation by the CBI. We are the one pushing for the investigations,” Nupur told.
Accusing the CBI of “cover up” of the shoddy probe by the UP police, she said that neither she nor her husband even knew where the postmortem was being conducted and that the UP police had taken over the crime scene early morning when the body of their daughter was found.
CBI said the dimension of the wound on Aarushi’s head was similar to one on the golf club owned by Rajesh, adding it was handed over by the couple after intense grilling, a year after the incident.
However, Nupur claimed that she was the one who produced the golf club on her own and that the CBI had never asked for it.
“The conduct of the parents has been suspicious,” the CBI, which has come under intense criticism in the wake of its closure report, said.
The report said Talwar was named as an accused but could not be chargesheeted becase of “insufficent evidence”.
Asked why the CBI had not proceeded against Rajesh and Nupur on the basis of their findings, senior CBI officials said that they could not zero in on any motive behind the murder. CBI could not proceed on the circumstantial evidence merely on the basis of conjectures.
About the three servants — Krishna, Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal — the report said that they were found to be innocent during the investigations and hence the case against the trio should be treated as closed.
The report while detailing the case said there were no witnesses in the case other than the parents and Hemraj.
While the crime scene had not been preserved at all, the CBI, which took up the case on June one, 2008, said things were pretty normal at Talwar’s residence till 10.30 PM on the fateful day as suggested in the video camera where some pictures had been clicked.
The father was hooked on the internet till midnight, the report said.
The CBI also highlighted the fact that it was unlikely that the murderer could have killed the victim and then wrapped her body properly in a bed sheet.
The report claimed that the dentist had asked UP police team to rush after Hemraj rather than giving them sufficient time to secure the scene of crime.
It also claimed that Rajesh had failed to immediately identify the body of Hemraj found on the terrace.
It mentioned that there was no forced entry into the house and even the door of Aarushi was like that of a hotel room which could be opened either from inside or with a key from outside. The keys of the room were with the mother of the victim, the report said.
The narco-analysis and polygraph tests of the dentist couple was “inconclusive”, it said.
On the role of servants, who have been given clean chit after the investigations, the CBI report said while one of them — Rajkumar (domestic help of family friend Durrani) — was at the railway station from 11:30 PM to receive Durrani’s wife and was accounted for till 1 AM.
Krishna was detained from his residence by the UP police while he was sleeping, the report said, adding their were eyewitnesses to suggest that he was all along at his home on that night.
The narco-tests of the three servants were also of “disputed nature”, the report claimed.
On the missing mobile phones, they said the cell phones which were claimed to have been destroyed by the servants were found activated within three months raising doubts about the tests.
In related developments, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily met CBI director A P Singh during which the senior police official briefed him about the case. The minister wanted the agency to take the case seriously.
Talwar’s counsel Rebecca John welcomed Moily’s statement saying “if the law minister has made a statement asking for an explanation from the CBI, we welcome that reaction.”
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar also said that she was “worried” about the recent developments. “This is a important issue. We are worried about it…that a child was murdered and why she is not getting justice… we should think seriously,” she said.
The National Commission for Women shot off letters to the Home Minister and the Law Minister seeking a re-look at the case.
—–PTI