By IANS,
Noida : A court here Tuesday granted the police three days custody of dentist Rajesh Talwar who has been arrested for allegedly murdering his teenaged daughter Aarushi and family domestic help Hemraj.
The prosecution had demanded Talwar’s police custody for seven days but Chief Judicial Magistrate A.K. Singh rejected the request.
But for the second consecutive day, a strike by lawyers prevented Talwar’s bail plea from being taken up.
Talwar has cited health reasons for seeking bail, saying he suffered from asthma and that the evidence produced by the police did not link him to the crime.
The Talwars – both husband and wife are dentists – have denied any role in the May 16 gory murder of Aarushi, who was found at their home with her throat slit, and Hemraj, whose body was discovered only the next day.
The police had bungled the initial investigation. They had claimed first that Hemraj was the killer — and were embarrassed when his body turned up the next day.
Appearing before the court, senior prosecution officer P.C. Srivastava said the police wanted Talwar’s custody for seven days as they were yet to recover the weapons used in the crime besides Aarushi’s missing mobile phone.
After hearing the police plea at 11.30 a.m., the court eventually came out with the ruling in the afternoon.
Talwar was arrested May 23 for the twin murders and remanded to 14 days judicial custody.
The police said the dentist was in an inebriated state when he killed Aarushi because she had been discussing his extra-marital affairs with her friends. Talwar also objected to his the alleged relationship between Aarushi, a Class 9 student of Delhi Public School (Noida), with Hemraj, the police said.
The only daughter of the dentist couple reportedly had dinner with her parents the night before the murder and retired to her room in the three-bedroom apartment.
Talwar’s wife Nupur has defended her husband, saying the murders were the handiwork of an outsider.
Nupur also rubbished allegations that her husband killed Aarushi and Hemraj to silence them over his extramarital affair with a fellow doctor.
On Sunday, the Noida police seized the hard disk of Aarushi’s computer in search of clues to establish their case against her father.
However, the weapons used in the crime and Aarushi’s mobile phone are yet to be found. The police had earlier seized Talwar’s laptop from his residence.