Aarushi case hearing adjourned

The hearing of the Aarushi Talwar murder case in the special CBI court in Ghaziabad has been adjourned till Feb 29 after the lawyer of the girl's parents said the Supreme Court is hearing their plea to transfer the case to a Delhi court owing to security reasons.

The Supreme Court on Friday had issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the plea of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, the dentist couple parents of murdered teenager Aarushi, that their case be transferred from Ghaziabad court to a Delhi court for security reasons.

Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar had made the plea before the apex court. They did not appear before court on Saturday "fearing a threat to their lives", said their lawyer, Mr. Tamta.

Earlier, their counsel had argued that majority of the witnesses in the case are living in Delhi.

He said Rajesh Talwar has a life threat and cited the incident earlier when Rajesh Talwar was knifed by a person in Jan last year.

The trial of the double murder case is taking place at the Ghaziabad court.

The Supreme Court had directed a lower court to resume trial on the Aarushi Talwar murder case.

Dismissing Rakesh and Nupur Talwar´s plea, the apex court bench of judges A K Ganguly and J S Khehar had said that the dentist couple will be tried for the murder of their daughter.

The Talwars had approached the Supreme Court and requested the apex court to over-rule the decision given by a lower court that directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to make the doctor couple the main accused in the case.

The apex court refused to intervene into the matter and clarified that their verdict did not signify the alleged involvement of Aarushi´s parents in the murder of their 14-year-old daughter.

Aarushi was found murdered, with her throat slit, at the Talwar residence in Noida in the morning of May 16, 2008.

The body of Hemraj, Talwars´ domestic help, was found on the terrace the next day.

The Noida Police had arrested Rakesh Talwar but later he was released by the CBI as they did not find any evidence of his involvement in the murder.

The CBI, in its closure report in the case, had said there were gaps in the investigation and Rajesh Talwar remained the only suspect in the murder case of his daughter and Hemraj.