Talwar gets bail in Aarushi case

NEW DELHI: Rajesh Talwar, arrested in connection with the murder of his young daughter Aarushi and the family’s domestic help Hemraj in May, was on Friday granted bail by a special Ghaziabad court. He is expected to be released from the Dasna jail on Saturday.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation submitted that it had not come across any evidence so far proving the complicity of Dr. Talwar, who was arrested by the Noida police on May 23. The court asked him to execute a personal bond for Rs. 5 lakh and two sureties for a like amount.

In another development, the CBI arrested Vijay Mandal, domestic help of a neighbour of the Talwars. Raj Kumar, domestic help of the Durranis, and Dr. Talwar’s compounder Krishna were arrested earlier.

Vijay was arrested on the basis of disclosures made by Raj Kumar and Krishna and the findings of psychological assessment and polygraph, brain fingerprinting and narco-analysis tests conducted on him in Mumbai and Bangalore.

At a press conference here, CBI Joint Director (Special Crime) Arun Kumar said after the agency took over the case, Dr. Talwar was subjected to a lie-detector test, but it remained inconclusive. “However, in the second test no deception was found.”

Dr. Talwar’s wife Nupur was subjected to polygraph tests twice and no deception was found in the second one.

Mr. Kumar said the Talwars were also subjected to psycho-analysis tests and nothing adverse was found against them. Then, with the help of experts, the agency conducted a simulation exercise during which the air-conditioners in the rooms of the Talwars and Aarushi were switched on. No sound of any activity in Aarushi’s room was audible in the adjacent bedroom when the door was shut.

Krishna’s confession

Krishna then emerged the main accused. The CBI found that a couple of days before the incident, Dr. Talwar had scolded him for a mistake and he publicly expressed his anger over the “insult.” Krishna was first subjected to psychological assessment and polygraph tests, which revealed deception on his part. He was, therefore, subjected to brain fingerprinting and narco-analysis tests. “After the tests, Krishna confessed to having committed the crime along with Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal,” said Mr. Kumar.

Raj Kumar was put through all scientific tests in Gandhinagar and the findings suggested his involvement. He was then arrested and again subjected to a narco-analysis test in Bangalore. During the second test, he allegedly confessed to his involvement.

“As per the disclosures by the accused, Krishna, Raj Kumar and Vijay gathered in Hemraj’s room and consumed alcohol on the night of May 15-16. They talked about Aarushi and under the influence of liquor went to her room. She woke up and tried to scream, but was gagged and hit in the head with a hard blunt object. The accused then tried to sexually abuse her,” said Mr. Kumar. This led to an altercation between them. Aarushi had lost her consciousness by then. Fearing that the Talwars might wake up, they went to the terrace, where Raj Kumar and Krishna had a scuffle with Hemraj and allegedly murdered him.

They then returned to Aarushi’s room and slit her throat, said Mr. Kumar.

However, the agency is yet to recover the murder weapon and the mobile phones of the victims. Also, individual roles of the three accused have not been clearly established so far.

The Hindu dt. 12 7 2008