Breakthrough in Aarushi murder, her mobile found

The cellphone of slain teenager Aarushi Talwar, missing for over a year since her mysterious killing in her parents' Noida flat, has been found by Delhi Police and handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the murder, police said on Monday. Vijaita Singh and Abhishek Sharan report...

Sixteen months after her yet unsolved murder in May 2008, the Delhi Police’s crime branch finally traced Aarushi Talwar’s missing mobile phone on Monday.

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It was found in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, 60 km east of Delhi, with one Ram Bhool, who has been detained. Police, who had been hunting for it ever since 14-year-old Aarushi was killed, believe it could contain valuable evidence.

Ram Bhool claimed he got the handset from his sister who is a sweeper in the area around the Talwars’ Noida home. “He claims she found the phone on the road near Aarushi’s house and kept,” said a police officer.

She gave it to Bhool in February, seemingly unaware the CBI — which took over the case from the Noida police — had offered a reward of Rs 1 lakh for it.

Police sources claim Bhool had been using it since then. “We traced him through the IMEI number of the handset for which we had put out an alert,” said a police source.

The handset’s memory is empty, but the CBI is hopeful some images of the photos taken with it can still be retrieved, which may provide clues to Aarushi’s murderer.