Rajesh and Nupur Talwar were sentenced to life in prison in 2013 for their daughter Aarushi Talwar's murder. They had appealed against their conviction.
Allahabad: Dentist couple Nupur and Rajesh Talwar have been acquitted of charges of murdering their teen daughter, Aarushi, in 2008, by the Allahabad High Court. Overruling a lower court verdict, the court has given them the benefit of doubt, saying that there is no clinching evidence that the Talwars are guilty. Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom at the Talwars' home in Noida near Delhi; then Hemraj, the family's Nepalese domestic help was discovered killed on the terrace. The Talwars were sentenced to life in prison in 2013. They had appealed against their conviction.
Here is your 10-point cheatsheet to this big story:
Aarushi was found with her throat slit in her bed, just days before she turned 14. At first, Hemraj, who was missing, was the main suspect, but the next day, his body was found on the roof of the apartment building where the Talwars lived.
Rajesh Talwar was arrested seven days after the murder and spent two months in jail before getting bail. Both Rajesh and his wife, Nupur, have been in jail since November 2013.
The case became a sensational story dividing public opinion on who killed Aarushi; a book and a film have been made on the double murder.
The CBI had asked for the death penalty when the Talwars were convicted by a local court in Ghaziabad four years ago.
Early in the investigation, the Noida police alleged Rajesh Talwar had murdered Aarushi and Hemraj in a rage after finding them in a compromising situation. But they offered no forensic or material evidence to substantiate this claim.
The Talwars denied the murder and blamed sensational media coverage for demonising them and damaging their defence.
The judge who found them guilty four years ago said they had also destroyed evidence.
The initial police investigation was widely criticised, prompting the CBI to take over the case. It based its prosecution largely on circumstantial evidence, but said it was enough to prove that the couple had committed the crime.
In December 2010, the CBI told the court that it had no evidence in the case but suspected Rajesh Talwar of the double murder. The court said that the case could not be closed.
The CBI said that there was no evidence of the Talwars' home being broken into, which suggested that the double murder was an inside job. It also argued the "last-seen theory" -- which holds that the victims were last seen with the Talwars on the night that the murders were committed.
No comments:
Post a Comment