The Allahabad High Court acquitted Rajesh and Nupur, parents of Aarushi Talwar, in the 2008 murder of their daughter, on Thursday, 12 October. The High Court struck down a 2013 CBI court order convicting them for the murder of their daughter, Aarushi, and domestic help, Hemraj.
The case, which was based on circumstantial evidence, had attracted several controversies for its shoddy investigation. Through the course of the CBI investigation, several contradicting angles had surfaced.Here are those involved in the case, which, to this day, remains unsolved.
Aarushi Talwar
Aarushi Talwar was found murdered in her bedroom in her flat in Noida on the intervening night of 15 and 16 May 2008. Her throat was slit and she had injuries on her forehead.
Hemraj
Two days after Aarushi was murdered, the initial key suspect was Hemraj, the domestic help. However, Hemraj’s body was found on the terrace.
Through the course of the investigation, there were allegations that Hemraj had an illicit affair with Aarushi.
The Talwars
Ever since the murders came to light, Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, the parents of Aarushi, had to go through an ordeal. Suspecting it to be case of honour killing, the CBI framed charges against the parents and sentenced them to life, in a special court in Ghaziabad in 2013.
Nine years after the murder, the couple was acquitted by the Allahabad High Court on the account that the prosecution failed to provide establishing evidence against them.
Krishna Thadari
Krishna was an assistant to Rajesh at his dental clinic, and was present on the night of the crime at the Talwar residence. Being a key suspect, he had to undergo a Narco test.
In his test, he revealed that both Aarushi and Hemraj were killed with the same weapon. He also said that Rajesh might not be involved in the murder, and blamed the other two suspects, Rajkumar and Vijay, for the same.
Raj Kumar
Raj Kumar used to work with the Durranis, close friends of the Talwars, who lived nearby. He was also present at the Talwar residence, drinking with friends Krishna and Vijay on the fateful night.
He revealed in his narco test that he had seen Krishna going into Aarushi's room in a drunk state, and killed her out of panic when she woke up. Later, when Hemraj confronted Krishna, he killed him too.
Vijay Mandal
Vijay Mandal, aka Shambhu, used to work at Talwars’ neighbour’s home with Krishna and Rajkumar. Being present at the scene on the night when Aarushi was murdered, he claimed in his narco-analysis test that Hemraj called him to the residence but was killed by Krishna and Rajkumar in a fit of rage.
He said that he had seen the murder weapon, a khukri, in Krishna's hands. He also alleged that Aarushi was raped.
The case still needs to be solved, even as Aarushi’s parents were acquitted by the High Court. The timeline of the case is an interesting chain of events, especially after it was transferred to the CBI.
Arun Kumar, who was the joint director of CBI when the case broke out in 2008, believed Nupur and Rajesh were innocent. However, when the next CBI director, Vijay Shankar, retired in 2008, his successor, Ashwani Kumar, disbanded the entire team on charges of having loopholes in the investigation.
The new team spent the next few years gathering evidence against the Talwars and ultimately convicting them in 2013.
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