Following four years of imprisonment, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar — the parents of Aarushi Talwar — are all set to be released from Ghaziabad’s Dasna Jail on Friday after the Allahabad High Court acquitted them in the 2008 Aarushi-Hemraj murder case.
The couple was earlier held guilty by a CBI court for murdering their own daughter, in what seemed to be a case of honour killing. However, the court on Thursday set aside the earlier judgement and acquitted the couple.
However, the verdict left questions unanswered on who was behind the sensational killings nine years ago, as the theory of no outsider entry collapsed with the acquittal.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court had ruled that the Talwars – a dentist couple, had murdered 14-year-old Aarushi at their Jalvayu Vihar home in Noida on May 16, 2008, in a fit of rage because they suspected her of having an affair with Hemraj, and sentenced them to life imprisonment on November 26, 2013.
However, on Thursday, a division bench of the court comprising justices BK Narayana and AK Mishra exonerated the couple in the case.
Tanveer Ahmed Mir, the lawyer for the couple, said they were able to prove that the CBI case had no basis or legs to stand on. “Once the basis of the prosecution was knocked out because it was unbelievable, then there was no motive. There was no sterling witness.”
Aditya Wadhwa, another defence lawyer, said just because there was no other person present in the room, where Aarushi was found dead, it was unjustified to blame the parents for the murder.
He said both the judges found the charges against them baseless and there was no strength in the allegations of the CBI.
Dhruv Gupta, another counsel for the accused parents, said there was no eyewitness and in a case which depended on circumstantial evidence “the law of the land is that the benefit of doubt goes to the accused”.
“Also when is an alternative hypothesis (of some other killer), the benefit of doubt again goes to the accused.”
The couple’s relatives expressed happiness over the judgement, saying finally the ordeal is over for the couple.
“I am thankful to the judiciary for giving a positive verdict. It has been a stressful life since Aarushi Talwar was killed. I am grateful for the acquittal of Rajesh and Nupur. Allow us to soak in the news. We always knew they were not guilty,” Aarushi’s maternal grandfather BG Chitnis said.
Reacting to the verdict, the CBI said it would study the Allahabad High Court order and “decide the future course of action”.
Pinaki Mishra, the lawyer who appeared for the couple in the Supreme Court when they had sought transfer of the case from Ghaziabad to Delhi in 2012, said the CBI will have no case to argue in the Supreme Court. “In fact, they will have to answer a number of questions in the Supreme Court as to why they did not investigate properly.”
After a Special CBI Court in Ghaziabad convicted them for the murders in 2013 and handed them life terms, the Talwars appealed in the Allahabad High Court against the verdict.
Former CBI director AP Singh, who then headed the agency when it took over the case, said: “There were loopholes in our investigation and that is why we had closed the case saying it was inconclusive.”
He said the High Court verdict “does not say that the Talwars didn’t do it” but that there was not enough evidence against them.
Aarushi was found dead inside her room in the Talwars’ Noida residence with her throat slit in May 2008. The needle of suspicion had initially moved towards 45-year-old Hemraj, who had gone missing but his body was recovered in a pool of blood from the terrace of the house two days later.
The Uttar Pradesh Police accused Rajesh Talwar of killing his daughter in a fit of rage after he allegedly found Aarushi in a compromising situation with Hemraj. Rajesh Talwar was arrested on May 23, 2008.
As the Uttar Pradesh Police drew flak over a shoddy investigation into the case which was making national headlines, the then chief minister Mayawati handed over the probe to the CBI.
On May 31, the CBI took over the case. It initially absolved the parents of conspiracy and murder but later held them responsible.
On June 13, Rajesh Talwar’s compounder Krishna was arrested by the CBI. Ten days later, Raj Kumar, a servant of a doctor friend of the Talwars, and Vijay Mandal, the domestic help of the Talwars’ neighbour, were also nabbed.
The three were later freed after no evidence was found against them.
