Aarushi-Hemraj trial: CBI's unending quest for the murder weapon

New Delhi: The kitchen knife is the latest weapon to make its way into the CBI’s changing theory of what killed Aarushi and Hemraj on the night of May 16-17, 2008. In a development that has stunned the defence, the prosecution in its final arguments sprung yet another surprise by naming  ‘kitchen knife’ as a possible weapon that could have been used to slit the throats of  Aarushi and Hemraj. The other fatal injury, found on the head of the victims,  the CBI has claimed was caused by a golf club. On what caused the slit on the neck of the victims, the CBI in its concluding arguments, while choosing to keep it open-ended (scalpel or sharp-edged weapon) has for first time in five years since murders were committed mentioned the possible use of a ‘kitchen knife’. [caption id=“attachment_1180091” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Aarushi Talwar. Image courtesy: Facebook.[/caption] At no stage in the trial has any expert witness mentioned the use of kitchen knife as murder weapon. The CBI’s quest for the murder weapon began with a khukri (a Nepalese knife that was recovered from one of the initial suspects) then turned to a ‘surgical instrument’ such as ‘scalpel’ (inspired by the profession of the Talwars who are dentists) and finally now to a “scalpel or kitchen knife.” When asked what the basis for this latest revelation was, the prosecution chose to partly deny and partly explain their claim by insisting that the weapon used was ‘sharp-edged weapon’ which could have been a ’ kitchen knife’. This improvement in the CBI’s arguments comes after the defence witness R K Sharma, former head of forensic science at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in his testimony disagreed with opinion of prosecution witness Sunil Dohre (the doctor who performed post-mortem on Aasrushi’s body) that a scalpel could have been used to the make the slit on the throat. Sharma had told the court that Aarushi’s post mortem report mentioned ‘sliced carotid artery’ and that it would be difficult to slit an artery which is deep inside the neck using a scalpel. Rajesh and Nupur Talwar are on trial for the murder of their daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj. Fourteen-year-old Aarushi  was found murdered in her apartment in Noida on May 16, 2008.  A day later, the body of Hemraj was discovered on the terrace of the three-storey apartment. Rajesh and Nupur were in the house on the night the crime was committed. The Aarushi-Hemraj trial, which began a little over a year ago, is in its final stage. The prosecution concluded its arguments on Thursday.  Defence will begin its final arguments on Monday (October 21).