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Allahabad HC Acquits Rajesh, Nupur Talwar in Aarushi Murder Case:- The verdict of 2008 Aarushi murder case has finally come out. The dentist couple, Rajesh and Nupur Talwar from Delhi were pronounced not guilty by the Allahabad High Court, of the murder of their daughter Aarushi (14) and domestic help, Hemraj.

The Talwars were convicted by a special CBI court in Ghaziabad, in November 2013, for murdering daughter Aarushi and Hemraj. Challenging the CBI court’s order that had sentenced them to life, the Talwars then approached the Allahabad High Court. The couple have been in Ghaziabad’s Dasna jail since then.

The judgment on September 7 was reserved by a division bench of the Allahabad High Court, comprising justices B K Narayana and A K Mishra, on the appeal filed by the dentist couple.

(Video Source: TV5 News)

To be recalled, on May 16, 2008, Aarushi was found dead in her house in Noida, with her throat slit and head bludgeoned. The next day of the incident, the Talwar family’s domestic help, Hemraj was found dead on the terrace of the house. Hemraj’s throat was also slit and there were wounds on his head. All over his body, there were wounds and the door to the terrace was found locked from inside.

The two murders were committed by an insider, suspected the Noida police, who said that the crimes bore “surgical precision”. Initially, Talwars former domestic help, Vishnu Sharma was named as a suspect in the case. The Delhi police also joined the investigation, soon after the incident. The then chief minister Mayawati handed over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as the Uttar Pradesh Police drew flak over shoddy investigation into the case which was making national headlines.

The police suspected it to be a case of honor killing and her dentist parents, Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar, came under the scanner, six days after Aarushi’s body was found. After finding Aarushi and Hemraj in an ‘objectionable’ position, Rajesh had committed the twin murders alleged the Noida police. However, to validate their claims, there was no material or forensic evidence.

Rajesh Talwar, father of Aarushi Talwar was arrested for the twin murders, on May 23, 2008. The CBI arrested Krishna Thadaraj, an assistant at Rajesh’s Noida clinic, on June 13. The CBI conducted a lie detector test on Rajesh Talwar on June 20. After a few days as the first one was found to be inconclusive, a second lie detector test was also conducted on Aarushi’s mother, Nupur Talwar.

Rajesh Talwar got bail on July 12, 2008, after spending almost two months in jail. Moreover, the narco-analysis tests were conducted on the Talwars, as the investigation continued. A closure report on the case was submitted by the CBI in December 2010, on the basis of ‘insufficient evidence’. However, the CBI while giving a clean chit to Krishna and two other domestic helps who were also arrested in the case, named Rajesh Talwar as the prime suspect. Due to lack of evidence, talwar was not charged.

The closure report was not accepted by the CBI court. The  criminal proceedings against the Talwars were also refused to be squashed by the Allahabad High Court. The Talwars were convicted by a CBI judge, Shyam Lal on November 25, 2013 and held them guilty of both the murders. The duo was also convicted for destruction of evidence.

The CBI court sentenced the Talwars to life, after a day.

SUPRAJA