SC issues notice to CBI on Talwar's review petition

The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a plea by Nupur Talwar, seeking review of its order, rejecting their plea challenging the Special CBI court decision of not accepting the investigating agency’s closure report, and to take cognizance against the dentist couple in their daughter Aarushi Talwar’s murder. An apex court bench headed by Justic AK Patnaik issued notice after senior counsel Harish Salve appearing for Nupur Talwar pointed to several infirmities in the CBI investigation. [caption id=“attachment_255970” align=“alignleft” width=“338” caption=“Screengrab/ibnlive”]  [/caption] The senior counsel said the evidence showed loopholes in the investigation, which overlooked several visible evidences. The apex court on 6 January, 2012, had cleared the decks for the trial of the Talwar couple after it rejected their plea against being named the main accused in the 2008 murder of their 14-year-old daughter in their own residential flat in Noida. The Talwars had approached the Supreme Court to overrule the verdict of a lower court that ordered the CBI to make them the main accused in the case. Aarushi, a Class 8 student of Delhi Public School, was found murdered in her bedroom at her parents’ Noida apartment on 16 May, 2008. The family’s domestic help Hemraj, whom police initially thought to be the prime suspect, was also found killed on the apartment’s terrace a day later. The murders grabbed national headlines and every development was followed keenly – the charges, counter-charges and court drama involving the parents and investigators. Rajesh Talwar was arrested and kept behind bars for 50 days in connection with the crime but was later let off because of lack of evidence against him. The CBI then arrested Krishna and two other domestic helps in the neighbourhood, Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal, who too were let out on bail later. In December 2010, the CBI filed a closure report in the case before the special court in Ghaziabad, but stated that it had circumstantial evidence against the Talwars in Aarushi’s murder. However, Talwars approached the court against the closure, demanding further investigation. The apex court too rejected the closure report, and in a dramatic twist summoned both the parents to face trial, and directed the CBI to prosecute them. The court issued 27 April as the next date for hearing. IANS