Compounder's lawyer beaten up at CBI court

GHAZIABAD: The counsel of Krishna, who worked as compounder for the dentist father of Noida murder victim Aarushi Talwar, was on Thursday beaten up by lawyers when he went to submit an application regarding his client's detention in the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here.

Krishna's family had alleged that he was picked up by the CBI June 3 and none of his relatives were informed about his detention. He was Wednesday taken to Bangalore for a narco-test, which is likely to be conducted on Thursday.

“Krishna's detention is unauthorized. He has been under the CBI's detention since June 3 and none of his relatives were informed. We will approach the court against it,” Krishna's lawyer F.C. Sharma said on Wednesday.

Sharma Thursday went to the CBI court here to file an application seeking Krishna's release. However, lawyers demonstrating in front of the court to protest the murder of a colleague beat him up for appearing in court instead of supporting their strike.

CBI sources said Krishna had vital information about the alleged illicit relationship between Aarushi's father Rajesh Talwar and Anita Durrani, also a dentist and Talwar's partner in a dental clinic in Noida.

Aarushi, 14, was found dead in her Noida home May 16. The Noida police initially named Hemraj as the prime suspect but his body was found the next day on the terrace of the same house.

The police arrested Rajesh Talwar May 23, saying he had killed the two as he was opposed to the close ties between Aarushi and Hemraj and also that she knew about his extra-marital relationship with Durrani.

The CBI took over the case after the Noida police drew flak for shoddy investigations.

The needle of suspicion pointed to Krishna, 32, after his first lie detector test on Monday that went on for six hours.

On Tuesday, the CBI conducted another lie detector test on him and said the murders were a "pre-meditated conspiracy" and not committed on the "spur of the moment" as earlier believed.

Krishna was the first to have told the police that Talwar was having an affair with Durrani.

The investigating agency also got his finger prints from Talwar's Jal Vayu Vihar residence.

"The precision of the wounds on Aarushi's body suggest that the murderer knew surgical procedures. This raises a finger of suspicion against Krishna, who is a compounder at Talwar's clinic," a CBI official said.

"Following Krishna's statement, a CBI team on Monday night took him to three places - the Hindon river, Khoda village and Nithari," all in Noida, the official said.

Krishna, who hails from Nepal, had been working as compounder at Talwar's clinic for the last three years and was a confidant of Hemraj. The CBI suspected that he might have disposed of the weapon used in the two murders.

Krishna has insisted that he was innocent. His family also supported his claim. “Krishna was with us on the night of May 15 (when Aarushi and Hemraj were killed). He did not go out of the quarters that night,” his sister Sunita told a news channel.