Rajesh Talwar’s assistant killed Noida teen: CBI

Fifty-seven days after Aarushi Talwar and her family’s domestic help Hemraj were found murdered in Noida, investigators said they finally have the killer. And it’s not Dr Rajesh Talwar, the teenager’s dentist father, but his assistant, Krishna.

<b1>"The Noida Police arrested Talwar without any evidence. We have informed the designated court in Ghaziabad we have not found any evidence against Talwar,” Arun Kumar, joint director, CBI, said on Friday.

Krishna, he said, "is the prime accused". Raj Kumar, the domestic help of the Talwars’ family friends, the Duranis, is another accused. A third accused is Vijay Mandal, also a domestic help, who is employed by the Talwars’ neighbours. Mandal was present at the crime spot, the CBI said, but did not specify his role.

Later in the day, Dr Talwar was granted bail. He had been arrested on May 23, and will be released on Saturday. “Rajesh is innocent,” his wife Nupur Talwar said. “Every day I prayed for the truth to be revealed.”

The CBI has not found the murder weapon yet. All the allegations, statements and claims it has made are based only on the many lie detector and narco-analysis tests it has carried out on the Talwars and the servants.

"We will find the weapons shortly," Kumar declared at the first comprehensive news conference the CBI has had since taking over the case on June 1, by which time Noida police had all but botched up the probe completely.

According to the CBI, this is what happened on the night of May 15-16, when Aarushi and Hemraj were killed: Hemraj, the Talwars’ help, invited his friends Krishna, Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal to a party in his room, where he served expensive scotch nicked from Dr Talwar’s bar. The party continued late into the night, even after Aarushi and her parents had called it a day and retired to their bedrooms.

"After several drinks, the conversation veered towards Aarushi," the CBI officer said. And they all walked across to her room. But as they entered, Aarushi got up, and tried to scream. So they gagged and hit her hard over the head with a blunt object.

Krishna then tried to sexually assault Aarushi, at which point Hemraj protested. So, all four went up to the terrace to settle matters. Krishna and Rajkumar scuffled with Hemraj and killed him. The two then returned to Aarushi’s room and killed her too.

Through all of this, the Talwars slept. Their AC, they had earlier said, was too noisy, and a mock-up by CBI investigators showed the machine was indeed too noisy for most people to hear anything outside.

All this had been pieced together by the investigators with help of statements given by the domestic helps during polygraph tests and narco-analysis — this was followed up by their alleged confessions.

Krishna had another motive. Talwar had yelled at him over some dental equipment and he took it very badly, bad-mouthing his employer to anyone who cared to listen — to the driver, for instance.

It was Krishna again, CBI said, who floated the honour-killing theory that led to the wrongful arrest and detention of Talwar. He told the local police Talwar killed his daughter and Hemraj after finding them in an "objectionable position".

His lies were caught during the narco-analysis. And he allegedly confessed shortly. The other two were broken down in a similar fashion. Now, the investigators need to back up these claims/allegations with corroborative evidence.

"So far, the confession of the accused has been corroborated forensically to the extent that blood of Hemraj was found on the pillow in Aarushi’s room,” said a statement issued by the CBI.