Four months and Aarushi murder still a whodunit

NEW DELHI: Four months to the day after teenager Aarushi, the only daughter of a dentist couple, was found murdered in her home in Noida, the mystery remains as dark as ever. 

After meandering through unexpected twists and turns the probe into the murder of Aarushi and their family help Hemraj has now reached a dead-end where all the accused are out on the bail while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) continues to hunt for material evidence.

Now the investigating agency has pinned its hopes on Nepal authorities to locate the murder weapon, which it suspects could be a khukri (traditional dagger) and the mobile phones of the deceased.

“We are just awaiting reply from Nepal authorities, to whom we sent letter rogatories (letters of request) for assistance in locating vital clues in the case,” a senior CBI official said on Tuesday.

The CBI also announced a reward of Rs.100,000 for anybody providing information vital to the case.

Aarushi, 14, was found killed in the Jalvayu Vihar apartment in Noida, a satellite township near New Delhi May 16, with her throat slit.

The Noida police suspected the “absconding” family help behind the murder but Hemraj's body was found on the terrace of the same apartment a day later.

The Noida police then accused Aarushi's father Rajesh Talwar of the double murders and arrested him May 23.

Following public criticism of the police investigation, the case was transferred to the CBI, which turned the case topsy-turvy after taking over the probe May 31 and gave a clean chit to Talwar.

CBI sleuths zeroed in on Talwar's Nepali medical assistant Krishna and two other domestic helps - Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal - who worked in the same neighbourhood.

They were detained and subjected to narco-analysis tests, in which they confessed to the crime, according to the CBI.

They were arrested on the basis of their narco-analysis tests, which are not admissible in the court as evidence.

The three, however, were granted bail by a CBI court last week after the investigating agency conceded its inability to find any material evidence connecting the suspects to the murders and failed to file a charge sheet within the stipulated period of 90 days from the day of the first arrest.

"The CBI will abide by whatever the court says," CBI director Ashwini Kumar told reporters Sep 12 after all the suspects were granted bail.

Thus, the agency now finds itself on the back foot, in contrast to the confidence exuded by its joint director Arun Kumar on July 11.