Aarushi murder mystery: A story with no conclusion

Arushi’s murder case that shocked the world has finally been closed. The judgement ran into 210 pages; it had to because solving the cold blooded murder mystery of the only daughter of doctor couple living in Noida wasn’t an easy one for the CBI. The case was also about another murder, supposedly, that happened in relation to the murder of the teen – Aarushi, was that of Hemraj. Domestic help Hemraj’s body was found on the terrace of the same building which housed the residence of Aarushi few days after she was found dead with her throat being slit. The case happened in 2008.

In 2013, Judge Shyam Lal held Aarushi’s dentist parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar guilty of both murders and handed over life sentence to them, thus wiping out the entire family in one go. Their only daughter Aarushi was gone, and her grieving parents landed in Dasna jail. The court, based on the reports submitted by CBI had taken into consideration the claims of the fact that Talwars had compromised with the murder scene and the crime must have been committed by them. Also, some of the ground facts include the ‘innocence’ claimed by parents to the fact that when Aarushi was being murdered in the room adjacent to theirs, they had not heard a single noise emerging from there. The court, though in not as many words, said the parents did this as a matter of honour killing since the teenager Aarushi and 45-year old Hemraj Banjade were said to be having an ‘affair’.

Initially, Delhi police carried out an investigation and framed the Talwars. Eventually, when the outrage grew, the case was transferred to CBI and three other servants working with the Talwars were investigated. Krishna, Rajkumar and Vijay underwent narco tests. With all this, enough material was generated to have Talwars behind the bars, forever, even as their appeal remains pending in Allahabad Court.

It is noteworthy that CBI had also suspected that the three servants had attempted to sexually assault Aarushi, and when that failed, they killed her and the prime witness Hemraj who was presumably in the know of things – in order to wipe the charges, if any, clean. But, subsequent to this, CBI handed over the investigation to the new team which arrived at the conclusion that the three men were innocent since it did not find any tangible evidence to back up its theory. Result – Rajesh and Nupur were given life term, for want of any evidence that would prove their innocence.

Lack of evidence and victims being turned into perpetrators isn’t something strange in Indian methods of investigation. Such botched up theories may have landed thousands of undertrials languishing in jails for years. They get to live a lost life, in case they have the mettle to prove their innocence, resources to fight a case and win against government’s agencies.

Aarushi, though died an unfortunate death in 2008, is making waves again. This is probably the first time in Indian history that a journalist who was closely following the case has written a book on the entire incident based on the facts he was able to collect in the line of his duty.
Senior journalist Avirook Sen has turned into an unlikely crusader in Aarushi’s case, arguing through his book ‘Aarushi’ that CBI clearly had got the case and method of investigation completely wrong. “Narco tests were for everyone to see. When three servants close to Talwars were administered the test, experts said there were way too many loopholes in their statements that could have been probed into. But, CBI chose to look the other way,” he said in an interview after releasing the book recently.

Aarushi is an important book in the history of Indian judiciary and the work style of highest of the order investigation agencies that can frame innocent people, sometimes deliberately, and sometimes for want of other evidences that can directly point at the killer.

Some interesting tidbits that make Indian judiciary, some sort of a machinery that lacks some important functional parts can be a very telling statement. The book which runs into three parts—the investigation, the trail and Dasna diaries, speaks of the ordeal Talwars are going through.

Going by the response the book has generated, it may also play a crucial role in bringing about the most important part—the conclusion, which for now, is hazy and clouded in mystery and tragedy. If that happens, Aarushi will truly rest in peace.

image: indiatimes