SC relief for Talwars

Court puts off hearing till July 12

SC relief for Talwars

Court puts off hearing till July 12

Monday was a busy day for the CBI and not a particularly happy one in Supreme Court. The Apex court questioned the agency's claims that dentists Rajesh and Nupur Talwar were the only suspects in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case. "Where from the CBI has become active?

Another date: The Allahabad High Court had earlier dismissed the
pleas of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar to quash the trial court summons and
the proceedings initiated against them. File pic

Pages after pages you have filed in the trial court submitting that there is nothing against them. Now how could you assume that there is evidence against them? Is it merely because the trial court has taken cognisance," the court asked Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam.

A bench of justices B Sudarshan Reddy and SS Nijjar at one stage also asked the couple as to what was their hesitation in responding to the summons issued by the trial court to examine their alleged culpability in the murder case of May 2008. The apex court after hearing the arguments at length said it would examine the validity of the trial court's order issuing summons to the Noida-based couple on July 12. It asked both the parties to file, if necessary, their written submissions by then.

On March 19, this year, the Supreme Court had stayed during a special hearing the Allahabad High Court order that had refused to set aside a special Ghaziabad CBI court direction, summoning the couple in the case. The CBI after probing the blind murder case for over a two-and-half years had filed its closure report in the case in the Ghaziabad Special CBI court, saying it had been unable to find out any evidence to prosecute the Talwars.

But the trial court had rejected the closure report, saying there was enough prima facie material in the agency's report to put the couple on trial for their alleged involvement in the twin murders and had issued summons to them to face trial. Rajesh and Nupur Talwar had subsequently gone to the Allahabad High Court, which had dismissed their pleas to quash the trial court summons and the proceedings initiated against them.

Still a mystery
May 16, 2008: Aarushi Talwar-- daughter of dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur - found dead with her throat slit in the bedroom of her flat in Noida. Domestic help Hemraj (Nepalese national) suspected of murder.
May 17: Hemraj's body found on the terrace of Talwar's house.
May 18: Police say murders done with surgical precision, insider job suspected.
May 19: Talwar's former Nepalese domestic help Vishnu Sharma named suspect.
May 22: Family under suspicion, honour killing angle probed, the police quiz Aarushi's close friend whom she spoke to 688 times in the 45 days preceding her murder.
May 23: Aarushi's father Rajesh Talwar arrested for the two murders.
June 1: CBI takes over the probe in the case.
June 13: Domestic help of Rajesh Talwar, Krishna, arrested by CBI.
June 26: CBI declares the case to be a "blind case". Rajesh Talwar refused bail by the special magistrate in Ghaziabad.
July 3: Supreme Court rejects a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) case which challenged the administration of narco-analysis test on the accused in the case.
July 12: Rajesh Talwar freed on bail from Dasna Jail in Ghaziabad.
Jan 5, 2010: CBI moves court to conduct narco test on Talwars.
Dec 29: CBI gives up on the case with a closure report citing not enough evidence as the reason.
Jan 08, 2011: Talwars get closure report despite CBI objections.
Jan 25: Utsav Sharma, the alleged attacker of Ruchika Girhotra molester - former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore, attacks Rajesh Talwar on Ghaziabad court premises.
Feb 9: Court takes cognisance of CBI report and asks it to continue with prosecution charging Aarushi's parents with murder and destruction of evidence.