Four years after the killing of 14-year-old Aarushi, her parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar will stand trial for her murder and that of domestic help Hemraj. After several twists and turns in this dramatic case, a Ghaziabad sessions court on Thursday ordered the framing of charges against the couple, while observing that there appeared to be enough evidence against them.
The charges, under sections of murder and destruction of evidence, will be formally framed on Friday when the Talwars may plead guilty or not guilty. An additional charge under section 203 (misleading the probe) has been brought against Rajesh Talwar for filing a police complaint on May 16, 2008 that Hemraj had killed his daughter, a day before the help’s body was found on the terrace of the house.
In his six-page order, additional district judge Shyam Lal said there was enough evidence, prima facie, to try the dentist couple under sections 302, read with 34 (murder with common intention) of Indian Penal Code, and section 201, read with 34 (destruction of evidence with common intention). CBI counsel R K Saini told the media that after formal framing of charges on Friday, the court will gave the next date for commencing the trial.
Briefing the media on the closed door hearing, CBI counsel R K Saini said, “The court has agreed with the argument that since there were four persons in the house in May 15 night and two were found dead, the onus was on surviving members to explain what transpired on the fateful night.”
Citing a number of Supreme Court and High Court judgments, the judge said evidence cannot be minutely examined at the stage of framing of charges and there was enough prima facie material to press charges against the accused couple. The court also said “there seems to be no reason to discharge the accused (Talwars)”.
“The court also took cognizance of the prosecution’s argument that the crime scene was allegedly dressed up by the couple and there was no evidence of entry of any outsider, indicating that the crime was allegedly committed by Rajesh and Nupur,” Saini said. Arguing on the ‘last seen’ theory in court on Tuesday, CBI had said that only the Talwar couple was in the house on the fateful night. The agency cited the testimony of Talwars’ maid Bharti, their driver Umesh and security guards of Jalvayu Vihar to back its contention.
The judge also cited the defence arguments in his order. The defence had argued on Wednesday that CBI’s case was based merely on circumstantial evidence and all vital links in the chain of evidence did not connect completely. The judge also cited the CBI argument that a white discharge was found on Aarushi’s private parts during post mortem which indicates a motive for the crime. This was strongly opposed by Talwars’ lawyer who said that such discharge was not uncommon among girls of Aarushi’s age and did not show that she was having sex with Hemraj – an act that CBI argued had enraged the Talwar couple, prompting them to kill the two.
The judge also mentioned CBI’s charge that the Talwars had spotlessly clean clothes hours after Aarushi’s murder pointed to their guilt as normally parents would have hugged the body of their dead daughter. Besides, he also quoted CBI’s arguments that the walls of Talwar’s flat were washed soon after the killing and the statement of a prosecution witness, Rohit Kochar, who said there was no grief on the face of the parents and their clothes were fresh and wrinkle-free when he visited the house on May 16.
Judge Shyam Lal also referred to the CBI’s claims that the wounds on the neck of Hemraj and Aarushi were caused by surgical equipment which could have been the work of trained medical professionals like Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. The defence had rejected the theory saying these wounds could be caused by a weapon like the ‘khukri’, common among Nepali citizens.