By IANS,
New Delhi : A special prayer was organised Sunday for the peace of murdered Noida teenager Aarushi Talwar’s soul, even as her mother reiterated her husband was innocent of the crime that he has been arrested for.
“We organised a ‘Shanti havan’ in the morning which was followed by a special prayer for the peace of Aarushi’s soul,” Rohit Rana of the Baba Balaknath temple in Noida’s Sector-62, where the event was conducted, told IANS.
Aarushi’s mother Nupur Talwar, speaking to IANS by phone, insisted her dentist husband Rajesh Talwar was innocent and should be forthwith released on bail as the Central Bureau of Investigation “doesn’t have any evidence against him”.
Aarushi, 14, was found dead in her parents’ upscale Jalvayu Vihar apartment May 16. The police initially named the family’s missing domestic help Hemraj as the main suspect, but they retracted the next day on finding his body on the terrace of the same apartment the next day.
According to Nupur Talwar, her husband was very depressed and his medical condition had worsened ever since his arrest. Nupur said her husband should be granted bail immediately before his health deteriorates further.
“I met Rajesh today and he was very depressed and very upset. His medical condition has worsened and his mental health has deteriorated,” Nupur told IANS Sunday by phone.
Making a strong plea for her husband, Nupur said: “The bail application will come up on June 26. Over a month has passed since he is in jail and if he doesn’t get bail on that day, I don’t know what will happen to him.” She met her husband Sunday in Dasna Jail where he has been lodged.
Criticising the Noida police, Nupur, a dentist herself, said her husband was “suffering because of the concocted story by the Noida police”.
“Everyone has a right to live. He was arrested without any evidence. I have hope in the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and I know they don’t have any evidence against him. He is innocent and he should be freed,” said an emotional Nupur.
“We have gone through so much trouble in the last one month. I have full faith in the judiciary that he will not be kept in custody for long,” she said.
Nupur said she needs her husband for support to cope with the loss of their daughter.
“There is so much of grief after we lost our daughter and we have not been able to console each other properly. I hope that he is out soon so that we can bank upon each other in these troubled times,” she said.
Lashing out at the media, Nupur said news reports should be based on facts. “The media should report responsibly,” she added.
Appealing to the people to pray for her family, Nupur said: “I need everyone’s prayers – for Aarushi and for my family.”
A feast for devotees followed the prayers at the Baba Balaknath temple that organises the ritual every day and that is followed by a feast on Sundays.
Asked why Sunday’s ritual was dedicated to Aarushi, Rana said: “We prayed to Baba Balaknath to give justice to Aarushi, whose character has been assassinated by the Noida police.”
“We also prayed to Baba to bless CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) so that they can catch the real killer,” Rana told IANS.
Devotees from Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh participated in the function.
Asked why the victim’s family was not invited, Rana said: “We did not want to disturb the family, which is already in grief.”
Rajesh Talwar was arrested May 23, with the Noida police claiming he had committed the double murders in a fit of rage because he objected to Aarushi’s closeness to Hemraj.
The CBI took over the case June 1 following a public outcry over the shoddy manner in which the Noida police had conducted its investigations.
The CBI made a second arrest in the case June 13 when it picked up Talwar’s compounder, Krishna, saying he had confessed to his involvement in the crime.
The agency has questioned a number of people but is nowhere near zeroing in on the motive for the crime, the killer or recovering the weapon of murder.