Talwars’ to appeal against report
The parents of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar, who was murdered in May 2008, have decided to file an appeal against the case closure report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). HT reports.
The parents of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar, who was murdered in May 2008, have decided to file an appeal against the case closure report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Talwars’ lawyer, Rebbecca John, said: “This is not the last and final, as far as we are concerned. We are the complainants in the case. They (parents) are being left in no position to even ask for the actual killer of their dead daughter being brought to book because of the manner in which their rights were compromised.”
Aarushi’s mother Nupur Talwar was taken aback with the news of the closure report.
“I am completely shocked. We tried everything. We underwent all tests so that there is no scope for any speculation and despite all this, filing of the closure report by CBI is shocking,” she said.
A forensic expert, involved in the case, said crucial evidence were allegedly destroyed by the CBI, and accused the agency of a cover-up. “They had sent us some blood-stained bedsheets from the bed of the victims. Using that and the blood of the parents of Aarushi, we were able to establish that the bloodstains were indeed that of the girl,” said Dr J Gowrishankar, director of Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad, where the CBI sent the evidence.
“We were also sent some slides of the vaginal swabs taken from the victim to check whether there was sexual assault. What came out was surprising — they were not of the victim,” the director said. “There was a clear case of swapping and that was something we had communicated to CBI. That indicated that there were some interest in ensuring that evidence has been tampered with,” Gowrishankar added.