Talwars move SC, seek examination of 14 key witnesses

Dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, who are facing trial for the murder of their teen daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, on Tuesday, moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to examine “14 crucial witnesses” who had been dropped by the CBI during the trial.

Dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, who are facing trial for the murder of their teen daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, on Tuesday, moved the Supreme Court seeking permission to examine “14 crucial witnesses” who had been dropped by the CBI during the trial.

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The couple’s latest move came on a day when they were scheduled to record their statements as accused before the trial court in Ghaziabad.

With the couple seeking an adjournment, Special Judge S Lal fixed Wednesday as the date to decide their plea.

Lal has already completed examination of all the prosecution witnesses.

In their petition, the Talwars have challenged the May 4 trial court order dismissing their plea to summon 14 witnesses, including the then CBI joint director Arun Kumar who supervised the probe by CBI’s first team. Kumar is currently Additional DG (Law & Order and Crime), Uttar Pradesh.

Talwars’ counsel Tanveer Ahmed Mir said: “These witnesses have been dropped to prejudice my clients. We want to examine them before the trial court records the couple’s statement.”

On approaching the SC directly, Mir said: “We have moved the top court because a peculiar situation has arisen. In the past several judges of the Allahabad High Court have recused themselves from hearing our appeals against the trial court order. This has led to registry not listing our applications for over three months on account of which the appeals have been rendered infructuous.”

The Talwars’ petition is likely to be mentioned on May 9.

Fourteen-year old Aarushi was killed at the Talwars’ Noida residence on the night of May 15-16, 2008. Hemraj’s body was found on the terrace a day later.

The CBI had sought to close the case but the trial court summoned the Talwars as accused for allegedly killing both Aarushi and Hemraj.

The last prosecution witness to have recorded his statement in the case was investigating officer AGL Kaul, who had said the investigations revealed no evidence of a third person’s entry in the house.

During the trial, the CBI had told the court that the murders were committed by Rajesh and Nupur and no outsider was present in the house on the fateful night.