New Delhi: Would a father murder his only child and then lie to cover-up a gruesome crime? At first the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) didn't think so. But the murder of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar is a classic study in how not to probe a criminal case.
Forced to shut and then reopen one of India's most gripping murder whodunits, the CBI finds itself hot behind the collars as questions are being raised about their bungled probe into the case.
The first reports by CBI squarely blamed the four servants under the employ of Rajesh Talwar and his neighbour for attempting to rape and murder the effervescent teenager. A team led by then CBI joint director Arun Kumar all but absolved the Talwars of the crime and said the four inebriated servants were behind the murder.
When Talwar's servant Hemraj's body was found on his terrace, media swarmed the place, trampling over evidence. Both the Noida police and later the CBI did not think of securing the scene of crime.
Aarushi's post-mortem was a case of forensic analysis nightmare. The lab that conducted the tests before it was handed over to the CBI, claimed the swab contained a white discharge similar to semen, but later retracted.
In its closure report, the CBI said Aarushi's uncle Dinesh Talwar tried to influence a senior lab official, a charge the family denied. The CBI also said the samples were contaminated to a great extent and that there were attempts to fix the autopsy report to ensure there is no mention of rape.
The CBI was unable to trace Aarushi's missing cell phone that was retrieved almost a year later by the Delhi Police Crime Branch, its memory wiped clean.
The team initially investigating the Noida double murders gave a clean chit to Aarushi's parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. The first lie detector test conducted on them came out inconclusive so they repeated the tests. The machine evidently did not pick up deception. So they went ahead and meticulously pieced together the jigsaw of events of the night of May 15, 2008.
However, as then SP (CBI) Nilabh Kishore took over the investigations, a completely different picture emerged and Dr Rajesh Talwar was once again under CBI's suspicion for the murder of his daughter.
The CBI which took over the investigation from the Noida police, arrested Talwar's compounder Krishna on June 13, 2008. Vijay Mondal, the domestic help of one of Talwar's neighbours was also later arrested by the CBI. However, they were released when the CBI could not produce the evidence to nail them.
Rajesh Talwar was arrested on May 23, 2008 by the Uttar Pradesh police. The needle of suspicion pointed to him and police called it a case of honour killing.
After spending 50 days in jail, Rajesh Talwar was released. A baffled CBI, groping for clues, followed up with polygraph and narco-analysis tests on the Talwar couple.
The murder weapon is yet to be found and also the motive for committing the double-murder is not clear, according to the CBI closure report. CBI has maintained that despite all circumstantial evidence it is not enough to nail anyone in the case.
On December 29, 2010 the CBI filed closure report in the case, almost three years after the teenager was found murdered. The closure report which was filed at a Ghaziabad court meant that all the three suspects in the case - Raj Kumar, Vijay Mandal and Krishna - will be set free. They are out on bail now.
The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad on Wednesday made the parents of murdered teenager Aarushi Talwar an accused in the sensational case. The move comes as an embarrassment The CBI court reinterpreted the investigating agency's closure report and added Nupur as a co-accused.
Rajesh and Nupur Talwar have been charged with murder and criminal conspiracy in the killing of their teenage daughter Aarushi and servant Hemraj. Both of them have been charged under Sections 302 (murder), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code in the sensational Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case.
The special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ghaziabad took note of evidence produced against the Talwars by the investigating agency and made them an accused in the sensational murder case. The CBI court reinterpreted the investigating agency's closure report and added Nupur as a co-accused. The trial in the case will continue and the next hearing is on February 28.
Comments
0 comment