Aarushi- Hemraj murder case: CBI to take Talwars to SC; top 10 developments

Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar will have to prove their innocence in the Supreme Court, even as India waits to know who the culprits in the 10-year-old Aarushi-Hemraj murder case were

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the Allahabad High Court's order acquitting Nupur Talwar and Rajesh Talwar in the Aarushi- Hemraj murder case.

The Allahabad High Court, in a judgment last year, observed that the Noida-based dentist couple couldn't be held responsible for the murder of Aarushi and household help Hemraj because of insufficient evidence. That verdict itself was the outcome of a nine-year-long case that dragged on following several twists and turns. A CBI court in Ghaziabad had earlier sentenced the doctor couple to life imprisonment in 2013. 

The CBI has said that the Allahabad HC made a mistake in overturning the trial court's 'well-reasoned' judgment. However, following the High Court's October 2017 order, Hemraj's widow had in December moved the apex court against the acquittal.

On May 15, 2008, 14-year old Aarushi Talwar had been found dead in the Talwars' Noida apartment. At first, the police had suspected Hemraj to have committed the murder, since he was missing. Two days later, Hemraj's dead body was discovered fromm the terrace of the Talwars' residence.

Khumkala Banjade, the wife of the murdered domestic help, was quoted by the Times of India as saying that she would fight to get her husband's killers brought to justice. She had also said that the family had been struggling to make ends meet.

Here is a list of top 10 developments surrounding the 2008 Aarushi Talwar-Hemraj twin murder case:

1. CBI moves Supreme Court: On Thursday, the CBI moved the apex court against an Allahabad High Court ruling acquitting the Talwars in the twin murder case. Interestingly, CBI judge Shyam Lal, who had convicted Aarushi's parents in the case, in February this year moved the Supreme Court against the Allahabad HC's 'disparaging' comments against his judgment. 

2. CBI says Allahabad HC 'erred': The CBI said that the high court had 'erred' in not maintaining the status quo with the judgment made by the CBI trial court. In the top investigating agency's opinion, the Ghaziabad court had taken a comprehensive view of all the available 'circumstantial evidence' and 'rightly' convicted Rajesh and Nupur Talwar in the case.

3. CBI botched up the probe? According to a TOI report, the family of Hemraj is convinced that the CBI botched up the investigation of the Aarushi Talwar murder case. Hemraj's brother was quoted as asking if the CBI had a sense of responsibility and said that the country must know who the killers were.

4. Talwar couple freed from Dasna jail: After the Allahabad HC judgment in October last year, Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar were freed from the Dasna prison. They had been incarcerated for almost four years by then. The doctor couple promised to keep visiting the jail every fortnight to treat the prison inmates' dental ailments. 

5. Allahabad High Court's judgement: The High Court, while acquitting the Talwar couple, had made comments on the CBI court's conduct, saying a "partial and parochial approach" had been adopted to convict the parents.

The Allahabad HC said the trial court's judgment was based on "creation of fanciful reasoning" and "presuming facts with indomitable obstinacy and taking things for granted and thus basing the conclusion on unfounded evidence".

6. CBI closure report: According to a CBI closure report filed in December 2010, all circumstantial evidence pointed at the Talwar couple's involvement in the twin murders. The CBI said the cuts on the victims' bodies were made with 'surgical precision' and as such only trained hands could have committed the murders and then dressed up the crime scene adequately well.

7. Preliminary Police probe: The Uttar Pradesh police's handling of the Aarushi murder case faced public ire when it came to light that the crime scene had been corrupted and the officers on duty had failed to collect enough evidence. The police at first presumed the involvement of Hemraj in the murder since he had gone 'missing' the morning Aarushi's body was discovered. However, it shifted its stance overnight after the slain domestic help's body was recovered. The police alleged that Rajesh Talwar must have found his daughter in an objectionable position with Hemraj and killed them both in a fit of rage.

8. Harish Salve, Mukul Rohatgi defended Talwars in CBI court: The Talwars were defended by top lawyers Harish Salve, Mukul Rohatgi and Rebecca John pro bono in the CBI court. All of them believed that the couple were being wrongly framed in the case. Harish Salve, speaking to NDTV, said that there were several loopholes in the CBI investigation and Aarushi's parents also wanted to know who killed her. 

9. Talwars' defence: The Talwars claimed that they were being framed as murderers to cover up the police's botched-up probe in the case. The couple convinced the investigating officers in the follow-up probe that they were sleeping when the murders took place and that they couldn't have been woken by any sound outside their room because of the high decibels from a malfunctioning air conditioner.

10. Three men in a boat: The CBI's first investigation had exonerated Aarushi's parents. The Talwars' assistant Krishna Thadarai and two other domestic helps — Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal -- were suspected to have killed Aarushi after raping her. Hemraj was killed to cover up Arushi's rape and murder, according to the probe. However, the CBI's use of narco-tests to extract a confession was termed as being 'dubious' and inadmissible as evidence.