By IANS,
Noida/New Delhi : It was a twin murder that shocked the conscience of middle class India dominating not just headlines but drawing room conversations for weeks. But six months on, 15-year-old Aarushi Talwar, whose body was found in the safe haven of her bedroom, and domestic help Hemraj are fast becoming statistics in a long list of unsolved crimes.
On May 16, Aarushi, the teenage daughter of a respected dentist couple, was found with her throat slit in her suburban Noida home. The Noida police initially suspected Hemraj, only to discover his body in the terrace of the house the next day.
In a sensational twist, the needle of suspicion then swung to Aarushi’s dentist father Rajesh Talwar who was arrested a week later – and subsequently released some weeks later for lack of evidence.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which took over the case May 31, pointed the needle towards Krishna, Rajesh Talwar’s medical assistant, Raj Kumar, who worked for the Talwar’s friends, and Vijay Mandal, another domestic help in the neighbourhood. The allegations could not be backed by evidence in court and the three were also let out on bail.
The then CBI director Vijay Shankar had said on July 9: “The breakthrough is going to come soon.” Later, once the CBI investigators charged Krishna and his friends, Vijay Shankar had said: “I am hundred percent confident that the case is closed and the killers have been caught.”
But six months and four arrests later, the investigation into the twin murder that had the nation riveted seems to be in a dark alley headed nowhere.
“The probe is on and we are investigating the matter earnestly. But the absence of an eyewitness and delay in the recovery of weapon and the mobile phones is a big hurdle in nailing the accused,” admitted an investigating officer on condition of anonymity.
Another officer disclosed that a fresh team had been entrusted with the probe and had raided the Noida district hospital this month for four consecutive days because they feel that the autopsy report as well as the crime scene had been manipulated.
Some documents relating to the postmortem reports were found missing. The CBI seized certain documents from the hospital, an officer said, declining to give details.
The new team, which was formed in October, will be preparing a parallel report.
For months, the probe agency had delved deep into the sewers and drains around the Jal Vayu Vihar house of the Talwars and in the temple town of Haridwar – sifting through mounds of sludge and thick bushes – to look for the murder weapon and the missing mobile phones of Aarushi and Hemraj vital to get a move ahead in the sensational case.
But to no avail.
A clueless CBI then announced a reward of Rs.100,000 for anybody providing information vital to the case.
With no one charged in the case, no one behind bars and two of the accused, Kumar and Mandal, having gone back to Nepal, will we ever find out who killed the student of upscale Delhi Public School and the Nepali Hemraj? Was this the perfect murder?
With no answers forthcoming from India’s premier investigators on the sensational murders, this could seem so.