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Aarushi’s father to contest CBI report

Ghaziabad/New Delhi, Jan 2
The CBI’s closure report in the sensational Aarushi murder case will come up before the court tomorrow even as the teenager's father, Rajesh Talwar, named as prime suspect, today said he would challenge the agency's findings.

The designated Ghaziabad court, before which the agency filed the closure report on December 29 after two and a half years of investigation, is expected to decide on whether or not the case should be re-investigated.

“We are now going to move the court. I have to talk to my lawyers and we hope the court gives us justice,” Rajesh said when asked about the closure report.

Rajesh and his wife, Nupur, both dentists, lashed out at the CBI for making “false and baseless” allegations against them.

“By this closure report, all I can say is that the CBI has condemned us for life. They have put all kinds of false allegations upon us without any evidence. This has been completely shocking thing for us,” Nupur said.

“A completely unscientific investigation has taken place. It is very upsetting and disappointing and when I see all these things, I don't know where the justice for my child has gone,” she said.

In its closure report, the CBI gave a clean chit to three servants of the doctor couple -- Krishna, Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal -- who were picked up as suspects.

Aarushi (14) was found murdered with her throat slit at the Talwar residence in Noida near Delhi on the morning of May 16, 2008. The body of Hemraj, their domestic help, was found on the terrace the next day.

The CBI has raised doubts over the role of the dentist couple in the case but said there was insufficient evidence against Rajesh for it to file a chargesheet as it could not zero in on any motive.

On the fateful morning (May 16, 2008) when the maid had come, Nupur had dropped keys for her to open the door, a task routinely carried out by Hemraj.

As per the statement of the maid, Nupur was quite normal at that time but as she opened the door she asked the maid to see what Hemraj had done to Aarushi.

In an attempt to find the murder weapon, the CBI also checked a golf club provided to them by Rajesh. The CBI in the closure report had said that the golf club “appeared to have been thoroughly cleaned... visibly distinct from the other golf clubs of the set”.

Reconsider closure report: Moily to CBI

Bangalore, January 2
In the wake of “public sentiment” in the Aarushi Talwar murder case, the Law Ministry has asked the CBI to have a fresh look at its closure report in the teenager's death probe, Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said today.

“The CBI is an independent and autonomous organisation. We cannot give directions to it. In the wake of public sentiment in the Aarushi murder case, we called for a meeting of the CBI officials and have asked them to have a relook at the closure report they have submitted on the matter," he told reporters here.

On December 29, the CBI had filed a closure report in the case before a court on the grounds that there was no available evidence at the crime scene to pursue the probe, thus meeting a dead-end in the case that shook the country over two years ago.

Moily had lamented that the CBI failed to “properly investigate” the case and had said he would take a “serious” look into “how such a lapse” took place.

To a question on the Opposition threatening to boycott the coming budget session, if their demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the 2G Spectrum scam was not met, Moily termed the warning as an “irresponsible statement”.

“A CBI inquiry has already been conducted and a PAC (Parliamentary Affairs Committee) probe is on. If beyond this they feel the necessity of subjecting this (scam) to JPC probe, they have to substantiate it, discuss and debate it in Parliament. Their attitude (of threatening to boycott the budget session) only reveals their breach of duty,” Moily said on the sidelines of a function at the Vivesvaraya College of Engineering here. — PTI