Friday, February 11, 2011

Aarushi murder: What the CBI found, and what it could not

BI believes circumstances in Aarushi murder point to involvement of her father Rajesh Talwar, but admits it has no clinching evidence. Excerpts reproduced from CBI closure report and parents’ statement challenging the findings.
Aarushi murder: What the CBI found, and what it could not
Scene dressed up, body cleaned up--The circumstantial evidence collected by the CBI, and the Talwars' dismissal:
Bedroom key
CBI: During pre-test interview at FSL, Gandhinagar, Dr Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar have stated that they used to lock Aarushi's bedroom at night. The lock could be opened from the inside without a key but once it was locked it could not be opened from the outside without a key. The key was under the pillow of Dr Nupur Talwar. After the incident the keys were found in the lobby. They had found the door to the bedroom ajar in the morning (May 16, 2008). They could not explain whether they had locked the room at night and why the key was not traceable in the morning.
Talwars: The door was opened by Nupur on May 15, at 11 pm. After switching on the router in Aarushi's room, the door was automatically shut and inadvertently the key was probably left behind in the latch.
Dressing up
CBI: The scene of the crime was heavily dressed up which could only have been done by the parents. The major dressing up was reflected in photographs.
Talwars:The conclusions are based on inferences drawn after seeing photographs. CBI officers were not entrusted with the investigation till June 1.
Private parts

CBI
: Evidence of postmortem cleaning of Aarushi's private parts.
(see box)
Talwars: The petitioner submits that the postmortem report given officially by the police is bereft of the details that the CBI is now seeking to insert.
Wet circle
CBI: Opinion of experts is enough to establish that no biological fluids were on Aarushi's pyjamas and undergarments. The opinion has established presence of a wet circular mark on the bed-sheet below Aarushi's pelvic area... not urine.
Talwars: Postmortem report does not mention that doctor had found no sign of urine or any other body fluid on the underwear or pyjamas.
Wounds
CBI: Two types of weapons, one being a heavy blunt weapon and the other being a sharp and light instrument. The blunt injury was caused first and was sufficient to cause death. In respect of Aarushi it was on the front side of the face on her forehead and occipital region.
Talwars: This is factually incorrect as the injury on Aarushi's forehead was a lacerated injury. The postmortem report will show that no injury on the occipital region was noticed by the doctor. The injury cited relates to a blunt injury on the left parietal bone.
Terrace door
CBI: Door to terrace was locked for first time ever.
Talwars: CBI has no evidence. In any event the key was in the bunch that Hemraj carried, which has not been recovered till date.
Stains
CBI: (On May 15) Dr Rajiv Kumar and Dr Rohit Kochar had stumbled upon bloodstains of the terrace door, locked. They had also seen wiped bloody footmarks and wiped bloodstains on the upper staircase... (On May 17) Dr Sushil Chaudhary telephoned K K Gautam (retired DSP). At Rajesh Talwar's house, Gautam went up the stairs to the terrace door and saw bloodstains on the stairs and drag marks in front of the terrace door.
Talwars: No member of UP Police revealed existence of bloodstains/drag marks or wiped bloodstains on the staircase to the petitioner. The petitioner does not know K K Gautam and he had come voluntarily, accompanying a visitor.
Scotch
CBI: Presence of scotch bottle without glasses on the dining table of Dr Rajesh Talwar with blood of both victims on it indicates involvement of inmates as it was unlikely that an intruder would return to the flat to drink liquor after committing two murders.
Talwars: Clearly if the petitioner was in any manner involved in any kind of dressing up of the scene, this would have been the one piece of evidence he would have removed.
Surgical precision
CBI: Experts who conducted the postmortem have stated that the cuts to the neck of both victims were caused by a small sharp instrument with surgical precision and by a surgically trained person. This could only be the parents.
Talwars: This is contradicted by CBI's own conclusion that, "an expert committee got constituted by CBI had concluded the cut marks could have been made by a khukri".
Mobile
CBI: The entire data on Aarushi's mobile was deleted. Normal criminals would have no need to do so.
Talwars:"Normal criminals" are the ones who indulge in activities of this nature.
Diversion
CBI: When the police arrived on May 16 they were immediately diverted by parents and sent to search for Hemraj. Dr Rajesh Talwar ignored the request for providing the keys to the lock on the terrace door even when bloodstains were found.
Talwars: At no time did the petitioner ignore any request for providing the key to open the terrace lock. Nothing stopped the police from breaking open a regular padlock on a wooden door.
Golf clubs
CBI: Experts have measured the golf sticks and opined about the dimensions of the striking surface, It is established that the dimensions of the striking surface of golf club No. 5 are identical to the dimensions of the injury found on both victims. In the photographs of Hemraj's room, taken on June 1, only one golf stick is visible. Dr Rajesh Talwar was unable to explain the missing golf stick while in remand. A golf stick was later detected by the Talwars themselves but this was not intimated by anybody for a year. Two of the golf clubs were found to be cleaner than the others. The facts and circumstances revealed that the murder was caused with a golf stick which indicates that the assault was initiated on a grave and sudden provocation.
Talwars: An inspector from the CBI was present in the house when packers were brought in by the family on May 7, 2009. Even the loft has at various times been inspected by the UP Police and the CBI and the discovery of the golf club from the loft was not unknown to them. The earlier teams found nothing suspicious in this piece of evidence. In fact when the petitioner was asked on October 29, 2009, to send the entire set to the CBI, he did so. As the petitioner was not a professional golf player, some clubs were never used by him at all.
Router activity unexplained, events unclear, Hemraj killing spot uncertain-Why the CBI believes its circumstantial evidence is not clinching enough:
Router activity: Rajesh Talwar was active on the Internet till around midnight. The router remained continuously active with small gaps with last activity at 3.43 am, when the router was switched off. It was switched on at 6.01 am. Switching on/off with long gaps can only be (i) done physically or (ii) due to power cuts. There was no power cut that night. However, the router was switched on and off on a number of occasions with long gaps, even when police and visitors were in the apartment. Experts were unable to explain this activity satisfactorily. This makes this piece of evidence not fully reliable.
SCENE: No blood of Hemraj found on the bed-sheet and pillow . No evidence to prove Hemraj was killed in the room.
CLOTHES: On the clothes of Dr Rajesh Talwar, only the blood of Aarushi was found but there was no trace of Hemraj's blood. The clothes that Dr Nupur Talwar was wearing in the photograph taken by Aarushi on the night of the incident were seized by CBI but no blood was found during forensic examination.
WEAPONS: Murder weapons were not recovered immediately after the offence. One of the murder weapons, a sharp edged instrument, has not been recovered till date ; no bloodstains or DNA of the victims in golf stick.
SCOTCH BOTTLE: It was taken into possession on 16th morning itself. The fingerprint could not be identified.
UNRELIABILITY: The guards of the colony are mobile during night, and at the entrance they do not make any entry. Their statements regarding movement of persons may not be foolproof.
RECONSTRUCTION: The exact sequence of events between the intervening night (midnight to 6 am, May 15 -16, 2008) is not clear. No evidence has emerged to show the clear role of Dr Rajesh Talwar and Dr Nupur Talwar.
DOUBLE VIEW: A board of experts constituted during earlier investigation team has given an opinion that the possibility of the neck being cut by khukri cannot be ruled out, although doctors who have conducted postmortem have said that the cut was done by a surgically trained person with a small surgical instrument.
MOBILE: There is no evidence to explain the presence of Hemraj's mobile in Punjab after murder.
WITNESSES: The offence has occurred in an enclosed flat, hence no eyewitnesses are available.
MISSING: The blood-soaked clothes
of the offenders, clothes used to clean the blood from the flat and staircase, the sheet in which the Hemraj was carried and dragged on the roof, are not available.
Only narco test against domestics, not admissible-Why the CBI rules out the involvement of Krishna, Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal, and how the Talwars dispute this.
Not reliable
CBI: There is no evidence against the servants except the narco test which was not reliable.
Talwars: The validity of such reports or its admissibility is to be decided in a court only but the investigating agency cannot rely on its subsequent inadmissibility for not taking leads from these tests.
Krishna
CBI: Krishna was woken up in the morning after the crime by the police and landlord K N Johri when he was sound asleep in the garage along with his family. There is evidence that family members of Krishna were witness to his presence at his house during night.
Talwars: Not only was Krishna available within a radius of 50-60 metres from the scene of the crime, "the conclusive alibi" seems far from established.
Raj Kumar
CBI: At around 11.30 Raj Kumar prepared a meal for Dr Anita Durrani. They went to sleep around 12.30. Minimum time to reach Aarushi's house by bicycle is 20 minutes whereas the time of death is 12 to 1 am. Impossible to have reached the scene within the time.
Talwars: The timings given are at variance with the statements given by the Durranis to the CBI.
Lack of opportunity
CBI: Dr Durrani's house was locked from inside and it was difficult for Raj Kumar to have got out. Watchmen manning the gate of the society at neither place saw any movement of Raj Kumar that night.
Talwars: All inmates had freedom to move in and out of the premises. Further, the bathroom used by Raj Kumar is outside the main back door and hence there was no occasion for them to lock him in at night.
No connect
CBI: There were no phone calls between Raj Kumar and any of the other three servants. Raj Kumar was not known to Vijay Mandal and had very little interaction with Krishna.
Talwars: Regular calls were made at different times from (Talwar's) clinic, when the Talwars and the Durranis were not in the clinic or at their residence. On May 15, calls were made from the clinic at 4.58 and 5.37 pm to Hemraj's mobile.
Discrepancy
CBI: Narco report of Krishna and Raj Kumar had mentioned that Aarushi's mobile phone was sent to Nepal and Hemraj's mobile phone destroyed. However, Aarushi's phone was recovered from Noida and Hemraj's phone was found active within Punjab.
Talwars: There is a need to explain how Hemraj's mobile phone was found active in Punjab and yet not traced by the CBI. The CBI has not brought on record any evidence to discount the fact that Aarushi's phone was ever sent to Nepal.

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