Arushi Case Ends

VERDICT// ‘Circumstantial evidence’ provided by CBI sealed the fate of Dr Rajesh Talwar and Dr Nupur Talwar in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case in the end of November closing perhaps one of the most prominent murder cases in recent times. In its order, the court discussed 26 points that were brought by the prosecution during the trial to buttress its case. The court noted that in a case “where there is a fight between ocular evidence and documentary evidence”, the documentary evidence prevails. During the trial, the CBI had alleged there were only four persons in house—two were found dead (Aarushi and Hemraj) while other two (Talwar couple) committed the crime. To back its claim, CBI produced maid Bharti who was the first to visit the flat. The CBI had also told the court that the crime scene had been ‘dressed up’ by the dentist couple (parents to one of the victims) while forensic doctors claimed that Aarushi's private parts were post mortem. The defence's counter was that a poly-light test conducted in the flat did not bear out this charge of cleaning up of evidence. The post-mortem report, on the other hand, did not say that Aarushi's private part had been cleaned. The court accepted the CBI’s argument and said that from the evidence it was ‘adduced’ that the accused persons destroyed the evidence, cleaned the house, etc. It mentioned that there was tacit approval of the accused persons in cleaning of the apartment where the murders took place. On Nupur Talwar’s involvement in the murder, the judge noted that the manner in which the murders were committed, it could not have been a ‘handiwork’ of only one person.