Aarushi murder case: HC sets aside Nupur Talwar's bail application

 The bail plea of Nupur Talwar, lodged in Dasna jail in connection with the murder of her daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj for a month now, was on Thursday rejected by the Allahabad High Court.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Tripathi turned down the application of Nupur who had moved the High Court after her plea for bail was rejected by a special CBI court at Ghaziabad earlier this month.

Nupur's counsel Amit Srivastava said they may move the Supreme Court against the High Court order.

According to CBI counsel Anurag Khanna, the court rejected Nupur's submission that she should be released on bail as done in the case of her husband Rajesh, both dentists. The couple are facing trial in the twin murder case.

"We had strongly opposed this submission and pointed out that Rajesh Talwar has been granted an interim bail and not a regular bail," he said.

"In fact, a petition filed by us (CBI) is pending before the High Court whereby we have sought cancellation of his interim bail as the same was extended by the trial court after its expiry," he added.

Extensions are granted only in case of regular bail and not in case of interim bail. "So, technically, he now has to obtain a regular bail in order to be out of custody", Khanna said.

14-year-old Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom at the Talwar's residence at Jalvayu Vihar, Noida, on the intervening night of May 16-17, 2008. The body of Hemraj was found on May 17 on the terrace.

Nupur contended that there were many inconsistencies in the investigation carried out by the CBI and claimed that the probe agency had given her a clean chit in its closure report, though the lower court had nevertheless chosen to go ahead with the trial.

On its part, CBI said Hemraj's body was found on the terrace of Talwars' residence with the door bolted though they normally kept it open and that they had initially refused to identify him upon recovery of his body.

"These things could be treated as evidence of their complicity in the crime", Khanna said.

"Our stand was that the court had the power to commence the trial, notwithstanding the probe agency's opinion, if it found enough evidence for the same".

"Moreover, we also pointed out before the court that under Section 106 of the Evidence Act, the onus of proving that the dentist couple was away when the crime was committed or that some third person had entered their house at that time, lay upon them.

"But no such effort has been made on their part which again lends weight to the suspicion against them and may have weakened Nupur Talwar's case", he added.

Srivastava said, "we appear to have failed in convincing the court that our client deserves to be released on bail".

"Now, the only choice seems to be left before her is to move the Supreme Court. A decision to this effect will have to be taken by her after she receives the court order rejecting her bail".

Nupur has been in jail since her surrender before the Ghaziabad court on April 30.

Holding that there is prima-facie evidence, the Ghaziabad court had ordered framing of charges of murder and destruction of evidence against Nupur and her husband Rajesh.
The court had also ordered framing of additional charge of misleading the investigations against Rajesh, who had filed a police complaint at Noida police station that his 14-year old daughter was murdered by domestic help Hemraj.

The trial court had on May 2, rejected Nupur's bail application. She had surrendered before the trial court on following a stern direction from the Supreme Court which had also refused to stay the non-bailable warrant issued against her by the lower court upon her failure to appear despite issuing of summons.

Nupur had moved the High Court challenging the lower court order and it was claimed by her counsel during the course of arguments that both she and her husband, who along with her has been named prime accused in the case, had been given a "clean chit" by the CBI in its closure report.