Aarushi case: Talwars to stand trial for murder, rules Supreme Court

New Delhi: Nupur and Rajesh Talwar will stand trial for the double murder of their only child, Aarushi, and their domestic help, Hemraj who were both found dead at their home in a Delhi suburb in May 2008.  The Supreme Court has on Thursday morning rejected their appeal to dismiss their trial, ordered by a CBI court in Ghaziabad.  Their trial starts tomorrow at that court.  The Talwars have been accused of murder, destruction of evidence. Mr Talwar faces an additional charge of deliberately misleading the court.

The  Supreme Court was the last stop for the Talwars in their effort to have the case against them dismissed.  The couple, both dentists, say that the CBI, which has been investigating the case, is pinning the double-murder on them because it has not been able to find the real killer.  The evidence against them is circumstantial.  The CBI believes that a golf club recovered from their home in Noida matches the injuries found on the victims.  The fact that the house was not broken into on the night of the murders suggests that the couple is responsible, the agency has said in court.

The murder weapon has not been found.   The CBI says that Hemraj and Aarushi were killed with “surgical precision” and has suggested that this reflects the guilt of the medically-trained Talwars.

In its version of events, the CBI has said in court that the Talwars found their daughter in a compromising position with Hemraj and killed the teenager and the domestic help in a fit of rage.

Aaurshi was found with her throat slit on the night of May 16, 2008, a ferw days short of her 14th birthday. Mr Talwar told the Noida police that Hemraj was missing.  The Nepali became the prime suspect and the police dispatched search teams to locate him at his village.  However, a few hours later, Hemraj was found dead on the Talwars’ terrace. The  CBI has accused Mr Tawalr of trying to mislead the investigators by pointing them in the direction of Hemraj. The court in Ghaziabad that is handling the case has accepted those charges.

Mrs Talwar was arrested on April 30 and has been in a jail in Dasna since then.  Mr Talwar, who was arrested a week after the double murders and released two months later for lack of evidence, is on bail that was sanctioned a few months ago by the Supreme Court.  The CBI has appealed to the Allahabad High Court to cancel his bail.