Aarushi case: Arguments on charges end, order Thursday

Ghaziabad, May 23 (IANS) Arguments on framing charges against Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, the parents of murdered teenager Aarushi, concluded in a Ghaziabad court Wednesday. Special CBI Judge S.lal reserved his order to be pronounced Thursday.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) prosecutor R.K. Saini pressed for framing the charges of murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence against Aarushi's parents.

Claiming that the girl's parents killed her, the prosecutor sought the conversion of case closure report filed earlier by the CBI into a charge sheet.

The CBI said that the Talwars had "dressed up" the scene to cover up their crime.

Defence lawyer Satyaketu Singh told the court that the investigation agency had failed to establish the motive behind the murder.

The submission of a closure report in December 2010 suggested that the CBI had no evidence against the Talwars, he said.

Seeking the discharge of Aarushi's parents, the defence lawyer said neither the direct nor the circumstantial evidence supported the CBI argument to frame the charges.

Judge lal would Thursday decide whether to discharge the Talwars or pave the way for their trial by framing charges against them.

The arguments had begun Tuesday. This was after the court had Monday adjourned the case for a day after the Talwars' counsel sought 15 days to study the documents submitted by the CBI.

On May 16, the court deferred the hearing till Monday to allow the CBI to provide documents to Aarushi's parents.

The sessions court started the trial May 11, almost four years after the crime.

Also on May 16, the Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on Nupur Talwar's petition for review of its Jan 6 order which directed her and Rajesh Talwar to stand trial for the murder of Aarushi and the family's domestic help, Hemraj.

An apex court bench of Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice J.S. Khehar had reserved the verdict on the conclusion of arguments by senior counsel Pinaki Misra, appearing for Nupur Talwar.

Misra assailed a Ghaziabad magistrate court's order that rejected the closure report filed by the CBI in the double murder and took cognizance of the charge against the Talwars.

The CBI filed its closure report in December 2010 before the magistrate's court in Ghaziabad.

Aarushi, 14, was found murdered at her parents' Noida residence May 16, 2008. Hemraj's body was found the next day on the terrace of the house.