Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, March 19
The Supreme Court today stayed the criminal proceedings against the Talwar couple, Rajesh and Nupur, in the case relating to the murder of their teenaged daughter, Aarushi, in Noida, in 2008.

A Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar passed the order on a petition moved by the dentist couple, challenging yesterday’s Allahabad High Court verdict rejecting their plea for quashing the proceedings in a Ghaziabad court.

Entertaining the plea at an urgently convened sitting, the Bench directed the Talwars to surrender their passports to the trial court. Their advocate, Pinaki Mishra, said his clients would comply with this order on Monday.

The Bench said the proceedings in the trial court would remain stayed until further orders by the SC, which began today its weeklong holiday on account of Holi. The emergency sitting of the SC was necessitated by the fact that the Ghaziabad court had summoned the Talwars to appear before it on March 22. The accused moved the SC earlier in the day today.

The HC had ruled it was not in a position to restrain the magistrate from taking cognizance of a case in which the trial court had found prima facie evidence against the accused.

Aarushi (14), was found murdered at the Talwars’ residence on May 16, 2008. A day later, even the domestic servant, Hemraj, was found dead on the terrace of the same building.

Earlier, the CBI had filed a report in the trial court pleading for closure of the case for want of sufficient evidence. It, however, felt the needle of suspicion pointed to the parents and hence left the option of proceeding against the Talwars to the trial court.

After going through the CBI report, the magistrate chose to go ahead with the trial against the parents.