Krishna and Raj Kumar, the two remaining suspects in the Aarushi murder case, were granted bail on Friday by a designated court after the Central Bureau of Investigation failed to file a chargesheet within the mandatory 90-day period.
Special CBI Judge Rama Jain granted bail to Krishna, compounder of Aarushi's father Rajesh Talwar, on furnishing two sureties of Rs 25,000 each and a personal bond of the same amount. Raj Kumar, domestic help of Talwar's family friend, was also granted bail on submitting two sureties of Rs 25,000 each.
Both Krishna and Raj Kumar were arrested by the CBI on June 13 and June 27 respectively in connection with the murder of 14-year-old Aarushi, a class IX student of DPS Noida, and her domestic help Hemraj.
Aarushi case: No CBI chargesheet for now
The double murders took place on the intervening night of May 15 and 16. While there was no hearing on Krishna's bail application which was moved by senior counsel R K Anand and F C Sharma, CBI had opposed the bail plea of Rajkumar, contending that his release would be detrimental to the ongoing investigations.
Rajkumar's counsel contended that there was no evidence against his client, but the CBI informed the court that it had telephonic records suggesting that the accused was constantly in touch with Hemraj.
Rajkumar killed Aarushi: Krishna
The CBI also said since Rajkumar, arrested on June 27, was a Nepalese citizen, he could manage to flee the country and also try to destroy evidence against him if released on bail.
Another domestic help of Talwar's neighbour, Vijay Mandal, is already out on bail after the court said no evidence against him has been placed before it.
How and why Aarushi & Hemraj were murdered
Rajesh Talwar was the first to be arrested in the case by the Noida police on May 23, but he was let off on bail on July 11 after the CBI informed the court that it had found no evidence against him.
The CBI, after making tall claims about cracking the case earlier, held a hurriedly called press conference this week and informed that it was not in a position as of now to file a chargesheet within the stipulated 90 day period. The agency took over the investigations in the case from Noida police on May 31.