Aarushi case: Talwars drop carpenter as defence witness

In the Aarushi murder case, a court here Tuesday accepted a plea of the slain teenager's dentists parents and accused to drop a carpenter from the list of witnesses they had forwarded for their defence.

Rajesh and Nupur Talwar filed an application before a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special judge saying that carpenter Mahendra Sharma had alleged receiving threats from the probe agency and expressed a desire to stay away from the witness box.

The Talwars alleged Sharma had claimed that the CBI threatened him of dire consequences if he recorded a statement in their favour.

The court accepted the Talwars' plea to drop Sharma from the list of defence witnesses and ordered other witnesses Vikash Sethi and Mashuma Jha to appear July 18.

Earlier defence witness and forensic scientist R.K. Sharma supported the Talwars and said that the fracture on the body of Aarushi and her domestic help Hemraj, who was also found murdered, could not have been inflicted with a golf club.

Aarushi, 14, was found murdered at her parents' Noida residence May 16, 2008. The body of Hemraj was found the next day on the terrace of the house.