India

Presence of outsider in Talwars’ flat cannot be ruled out: HC on Aarushi murder case

Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court has said that the possibility of the presence of outsiders and persons other than domestic help Hemraj in the Noida residence of the Talwars could not be ruled on the fateful night in the Aarushi murder case.

On the basis of the record and statements of witnesses, justices B K Narayana and A K Mishra said a clear and credible evidence of alternative hypothesis available on record substantially demolished the prosecution’s theory that the crime was committed by 14-year-old Aarushi’s parents Nupur and Rajesh Talwar alone, a PTI report said.

Allowing the appeals of the duo against the November 28, 2013, CBI court judgement, the judges said this was so as there was “no proof” of any outsider having access to the apartment, PTI report said.

The court on Thursday acquitted the couple, who are both dentists, saying that there were contradictions in the evidence furnished. The judgement was uploaded on the court website on Friday, the PTI report added.

The Talwars had filed appeals in the high court against trial court order sentencing them to life for the murders of Aarushi and 45-year-old domestic help Hemraj in May 2008.

Aarushi was found dead on May 16 morning and the body of Hemraj was located on the terrace of the Talwar residence the next day.

The court said a call was made from the landline phone of the appellants installed in their flat L32 in a Noida apartment on Hemraj’s mobile phone number at about 6 am on May 16, the report said.

“The possibility of the presence of other persons and the outsiders besides Hemraj having accessed the apartment on the fateful night cannot be ruled out and the clear and credible evidence of alternative hypothesis available on record substantially demolishes the prosecution’s theory that the crime was committed by the appellants alone as there was no proof of any outsiders having accessed…the apartment,” it said.

The court said the investigating authority in its final report although had claimed that Hemraj’s phone was active in Punjab, it did not place any evidence in support of this assertion, the report said.

“The fact that Hemraj’s phone was active on 16.5.2008 and was in possession of someone else is another very strong circumstance which strongly indicates that someone had entered into the house of the appellants on the night of the incident and after committing the double murder had taken away the cell phone of Hemraj otherwise there is no explanation for the Hemraj’s cell phone responding and being picked up by someone upon a landline call being from the landline of L-32 although at that time Hemraj was lying dead on the terrace of the appellant ‘s flat,” it added.

Meanwhile, the lawyers of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar have received a certified copy of the Allahabad High Court order acquitting the dentist couple in the murder case of their daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, a PTI report said.

It will be provided to a special CBI court in Ghaziabad on Monday, which will then issue an order to the Dasna prison authorities to release the couple, one of the Talwars’ lawyers said.

Courts in Ghaziabad observe a holiday on second Saturdays.

The order’s copy was received late last evening.

“We have received a certified copy of the order of the Allahabad High Court. It is expected that they (Rajesh and Nupur) will walk out of the jail on Monday,” Vandana Talwar, Aarushi’s aunt, told PTI.

Rajesh and Nupur Talwar are lodged in the Dasna prison in Ghaziabad since November 2013 after they were awarded life sentence in the case.

The dentist couple had challenged the sentence in the Allahabad High Court, which acquitted them in the sensational double murder case earlier this week.

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