NEW DELHI : The Allahabad High Court will decide tomorrow whether dentist couple Nupur and Rajesh Talwar murdered their teen daughter, Aarushi, in 2008 at their home in Noida near Delhi.
Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom; then Hemraj, the family’s Nepalese domestic help was discovered killed on the terrace. The Talwars were sentenced to life in prison in 2013. They have appealed against their conviction.
Aarushi was found with her throat slit in her bed, just days before she turned 14. At first, Hemraj, who was missing, was the main suspect, but the next day, his body was found on the roof of the apartment building where the Talwars lived. Rajesh Talwar was arrested seven days after the murder and spent two months in jail before getting bail. Both Rajesh and his wife, Nupur, has been in jail since November 2013. The case became a sensational story dividing public opinion on who killed Aarushi; a book and a film have been made on the double murder.

They were also convicted for destruction of evidence with common intent, while Rajesh was additionally convicted of giving false statement to police.A Division Bench comprising Justices A.K. Mishra and B.K. Narayana had on January 11 reserved its judgment on the appeal filed by the doctor couple. However, the court decided to hear the appeals afresh due to contradictions in some submissions made by the CBI and resumed the hearing in August. The court thereafter reserved its judgment to be pronounced on October 12.
Aarushi Talwar, 14, was found dead with her throat slit in her bedroom in flat no. L-32 Jalvayu Vihar in Noida on May 16, 2008. The body of the family’s domestic help, Hemraj, who was initially suspected of her murder, was found in a pool of blood on the terrace of the flat the following day. The door of the terrace was found locked from inside.
The case was handed over to the CBI after the Noida police were criticised for a botched up investigation, leading to the loss of crucial forensic evidence. In his judgment in 2013, special CBI judge S. Lal said that from the evidence tendered by the prosecution, this “court reaches to the irresistible and impeccable conclusion that only the accused persons [Talwars] are responsible for committing this ghastly crime.”

The trial court had also ruled that there was no evidence to show that any outsider came inside the house after 9.30 p.m. on the night of the murder or that there was any forcible entry in the flat.The counsel for the Talwars had argued that the case against them had been based entirely on circumstantial evidence and that they were innocent.
Tanveer Ahmed Mir, counsel for the Talwars, said the trial court verdict was riddled with “numerous infirmities” and that evidence was not properly appreciated.