Fresh arrest warrant against Nupur Talwar

Ghaziabad, April 18 (IANS) A CBI special court here Wednesday issued a fresh non-bailable warrant (NBW) for the arrest of dentist Nupur Talwar in the 2008 murder of her daughter Aarushi in Noida.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judicial Magistrate Priti Singh issued the warrant against the dentist for failing to appear before her and fixed the next hearing April 30.

The probe agency's counsel R.K. Saini pleaded that since the earlier arrest warrant issued against her expired Wednesday, a fresh warrant was needed to arrest her.

Defence lawyer Praveen Rai, while opposed the CBI plea, said that an issue related to Nupur Talwar's bail application was likely to come up before the Supreme Court April 27 and a fresh arrest warrant should not be issued by the trial court.

Nupur Talwar's dentist husband Rajesh Talwar, also an accused in the case, appeared before the court but his wife was not present.

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.

The probe agency said Nupur Talwar moved an application March 14 citing the order of the Allahabad High Court asking the CBI court to hear her bail plea expeditiously and telling her to appear before the trial court.

"Neither the high court nor the Supreme Court has granted exemption to her from appearing before the court. There is no protection granted by the court to her. She is deliberately avoiding appearances. On hearing our plea, the court issued NBW against her," said CBI counsel Saini.