The law ministry has given a go-ahead to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to appeal against the acquittal of dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar over the murders of their daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj in a Noida flat in 2008.
A person familiar with the matter said that the law ministry has advised the CBI to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court.
An SLP can be filed against any decree or order of any high court.
There is already an appeal pending against the acquittal in the top court, filed last December by Hemraj’s wife Khumkala Bandaje.
The Talwars were convicted by a Ghaziabad court in November 2013 and handed life terms. But last October, the Allahabad high court overturned the order saying there was “insufficient evidence” against the couple. The court pulled up the CBI for its shoddy investigation.
The couple walked out of prison on October 16, 2017.
Aarushi was found murdered in her bedroom at their Jalvayu Vihar home in Noida’s Sector 25 on May 16, 2008. Hemraj was the police’s initial suspect.
Hemraj’s body was found on the terrace of the house the next day. Soon after, the Uttar Pradesh Police accused Rajesh Talwar of killing his daughter “in a fit of rage” and arrested him . On May 31, 2008, the CBI took over the investigation . On June 13, the agency officials arrested Krishna – a compounder in the Talwars’ clinic. They also arrested Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal – two other domestic helps -- but later freed them for lack of evidence.
{{/usCountry}}Hemraj’s body was found on the terrace of the house the next day. Soon after, the Uttar Pradesh Police accused Rajesh Talwar of killing his daughter “in a fit of rage” and arrested him . On May 31, 2008, the CBI took over the investigation . On June 13, the agency officials arrested Krishna – a compounder in the Talwars’ clinic. They also arrested Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal – two other domestic helps -- but later freed them for lack of evidence.
{{/usCountry}}The CBI filed a closure report before a Ghaziabad trial court in December 2010. Although the agency did not name the dentist couple as the accused, it pointed to their possible involvement.
On February 9, 2011, a special judicial magistrate rejected the CBI’s closure report. The Talwar couple was accused for murder and destruction of evidence. Their appeals against the magistrate’s orders were rejected.
The couple was held guilty by on November 26, 2013. In his order, Judge Shyam Lal said that commission of crime inside the house by the dentist-couple was possible, as no outsider could be involved. But the Allahabad high court acquitted the Talwars saying that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond all reasonable doubt.