No arrest for Nupur Talwar, rules apex court

New Delhi, April 13 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday told the Supreme Court that it will not arrest Dr. Nupur Talwar in the Aarushi murder case as long as her special leave petition is pending before the court.

A day after she was reported missing, dentist Nupur Talwar, an accused in the 2008 murder of her teenaged daughter Aarushi, Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking suspension of the non-bailable warrant issued against her by a special CBI court.

An apex court bench of Justice A.K. Patnaik and Justice Swatanter Kumar said since the matter was not listed, it would be taken up for hearing Friday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday unsuccessfully searched for Nupur Talwar after a special Ghaziabad court issued the warrant against her for not appearing for a hearing in the case.

Her dentist husband Rajesh Talwar, also an accused in the case, appeared before the court.

Nupur Talwar submitted an application before the court through her lawyer that since her review petition was to be heard by the Supreme Court April 27, she could not turn up before the court Wednesday.

Nupur Talwar in her application told the court that neither the Uttar Pradesh Police which had initially investigated the case nor the Central Bureau of Investigation has considered her as an accused. She said it was the trial court magistrate who considers her as an accused and has issued warrants against her.

Expressing her apprehension that she would be arrested if she appeared before the magistrate's court, Nupur Talwar said no further investigation was required to be done in the case as investigating agency has already filed its closure report.

She contended that no benefit would be caused to anyone if fresh investigation are carried out by the magistrate.

Nupur Talwar told the court that her husband Dr. Rajesh Talwar was granted bail on July 11, 2008, and that has been continued by the apex court on Jan 9, 2012. She said she has a strong prima facie case favouring her innocence.

Nupur Talwar in her application before the apex court also said that "besides being aggrieved mother and a law abiding citizen" she also "enjoys the reputation as one of the best dental surgeons of the country" and, if arrested then "people would not be able to make distinction between arrest at a pre-conviction stage or the post-conviction stage of the present case."

Nupur and Rajesh Talwar's 14-year-old daughter Aarushi was found dead inside their Noida residence in May 2008 with her throat slit. The body of the Talwars' domestic servant Hemraj, initially a suspect in the case, was recovered from the terrace a day later.