Arushi Murder: SC To Hear CBI Appeal Against Parents' Acquittal

The 2008 murder case of 14-year-old girl Arushi Talwar and domestic help Hemraj has stretched out over a decade and continues to be a puzzle. In a new development on Friday, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the CBI's petition challenging the acquittal of her parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar in the case. The Allahabad high court had acquitted the dentist duo in October 2017.

The bench, headed by Justice Rajan Gogoi and comprising Justices Navin Sinha and K M Joseph, said that they would hear CBI’s appeal along with Hemraj’s wife’s pending petition which also seeks re-examination of Rajesh and Nupur’s acquittal.

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Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, who represents the CBI, referred to the plea filed by Hemraj's wife, and then the SC bench said that they will tag their appeal along with that plea.

The bench, headed by Justice Rajan Gogoi and comprising Justices Navin Sinha and K M Joseph, said that they would hear CBI’s appeal along with Hemraj’s wife’s pending petition which also seeks re-examination of Rajesh and Nupur’s acquittal

Arushi was found dead in her room in her house in Noida in May 2008. While the police initially suspected Hemraj for the murder, his body was found on the terrace of the house two days after Arushi’s death. The case garnered acute media attention and revealed the Noida police’s shoddy investigation. The then chief minister Mayawati suggested that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should take over the investigation.

After the investigation and the trial at CBI court, the Talwars were sentenced them to life imprisonment on November 26, 2013. However, the Allahabad high court released them because they couldn’t find enough evidences that deemed the couple guilty of two murders.

However, on March 8, this year, the CBI moved the apex court challenging Allahabad HC’s decision to acquit the Talwars. Hemraj’s wife, Khumkala Banjade, had on December 15, 2017, appealed to the SC to re-examine the Allahabad HC decision.

Picture credit- Mid Day

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