Aarushi case: Talwars to be tried for murder

Holding that there is prima-facie evidence, a local court in Ghaziabad on Thursday ordered framing of charges of murder and destruction of evidence against dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, whose daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj were found murdered at their residence four years ago.

The court also ordered framing of additional charge of misleading the investigations against Rajesh, who had filed a police complaint at Noida police station that his 14-year old daughter was murdered by domestic help Hemraj. The formal framing of charges would be made on Friday.

The body of Hemraj was found on May 17 at the terrace of Talwars' residence at Jalvayu Vihar, a day after Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom.

In his six-page order, Additional District Judge Shyam Lal said there is enough prima-facie evidence to start trial against accused Nupur and Rajesh Talwar under charges of Section 302 read with Section 34 (murder with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 201 read with Section 34 (destruction of evidence with common intention) of the IPC. He said Rajesh should also be charged under section Section 203 of the IPC.

Citing a number of Supreme Court and high courts judgments, the judge said evidence cannot be minutely examined at the stage of framing of charges and there is enough prima-facie material to press charges against the accused couple.

After the pronouncement of the order, CBI special prosecutor R K Saini said court has ordered framing of charges against Rajesh and Nupur in connection with Aarushi and Hemraj murder case, which will be done on Friday. He said once the charges are framed, the court would fix a date for producing evidence in the case.

Saini said the court had agreed with their arguments that since there were four people 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. He said the court also took cognisance of prosecution's argument that crime scene was allegedly dressed up by the couple and no evidence of entry of any outsider shows that the crime was allegedly committed by Rajesh and Nupur.

The judge in his order mentioned prosecution's argument that there was enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that Rajesh and Nupur should be charged for murder and destruction of evidence with common intention and Rajesh for also misleading the investigation. He cited defence arguments which said the case was based merely on circumstantial evidence and all vital links of the chain of evidence do not connect completly.

The judge said that the CBI has claimed that during post-mortem of Aarushi a white discharge was found on her private parts, which indicates motive of the crime. This argument was strongly opposed by the defence lawyers,

who said such discharge was not uncommon among girls of Aarushi's age and does not show that she was having intercourse with Hemraj which enraged Talwar couple prompting them to kill her, the judge noted in his order. He also mentioned that the CBI alleged that according to witnesses there were no bloodstains on the clothes of the couple, which allegedly looked abnormal, as parents would have normally hugged the body of their deceased daughter.

Besides, he also quoted the CBI's arguments that walls of Talwar's flat were washed soon after the killing, statements of a prosecution witness which said there was no grief on the faces of parents and their clothes were fresh and wrinkle free when he visited on May 16, the day Aarushi's body was found.

In its order, the court also mentioned the CBI's claims that the wounds on the neck of Hemraj and Aarushi were caused by surgical equipment, which could have been a work of trained professional like Rajesh and Nupur.

The defence had rejected the theory saying these wounds could have been caused by a sharp weapon like khukri, which was common among Nepali citizens.

Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom at Talwar's Jalvayu Vihar residence in Noida on May 16, 2008. The next day body of domestic help Hemraj, who was initially suspected of killing her, was also found on the terrace of their flat.