CBI called Raj Kumar, forgot about him

In a development that might further delay wrapping up of probe into the eight-month-old Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case, Raj Kumar returned to Nepal on Thursday after waiting in Noida for a fortnight.

In a development that might further delay wrapping up of probe into the eight-month-old Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case, Raj Kumar returned to Nepal on Thursday after waiting in Noida for a fortnight.

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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had called Kumar, one of the three main accused in the case, for investigations into the case.

The chance the investigating agency missed to grill Kumar might prove costly. A source, who requested anonymity since he is not authorised to talk to media, told HT that the CBI wanted to interrogate Kumar again in order to recover material evidence that would clinch the case against the accused.

The evidences include the crime weapons — “a heavy, sharp-edged weapon which could be a khukri as well and probably a blunt weapon” — and the mobile phones of the victims. A probe team had earlier asked Kumar’s lawyer, Naresh Yadav, to call his client back to India since it wanted to grill him about details of the murders. Kumar and his two associates — medical assistant Krishna Nepali and domestic help Vijay Mandal — are accused of the murders. Kumar had returned to Nepal after procuring bail last September.

The murders had occurred at Aarushi’s dentist father Rajesh Talwar’s flat in Sector 25, Noida.

Yadav told HT: “After getting a phone call from a CBI officer directing me to call Raj Kumar, my client returned on January 2. He waited to get a call from the CBI but it never came. He went back on Thursday.”

When asked, CBI spokesperson Harsh Bhal said, “As per policy, we will share details about the investigation with media when we file the chargesheet.”