Aarushi Talwar's parents to appeal against CBI closure report

The parents of teenager Aarushi Talwar, who was murdered about two and half year ago, have decided to file an appeal against the case closure report filed by CBI.

Questioned whether they will file an appeal in the case, the parents' lawyer Rebecca John said "of course we will."

"This is not the last and final as far as we are concerned. We are the complainants in the case. They (parents) are being left in no position to even ask for the actual killer of their dead daughter being brought to book because of the manner in which their rights were compromised," she said.

Slained Aarushi's mother Nupur Talwar expressed shock over the closure report filed by the agency.

"I am completely shocked. We tried everything. We underwent all tests so that there is no scope for any speculation and despite this filing of closure report by CBI is shocking," Nupur said.

A forensic expert involved in the case said crucial evidence were destroyed allegedly by the probe agency and accused CBI of cover-up.

"They had sent us some blood-stained bedsheets from the bed of the victims. Using that and the blood of the parents of the Aarushi, we were able to establish that the blood stains were indeed that of the girl...

"We were also sent some slides which were the vaginal swabs taken from the victim to check whether there was sexual assault. What came out was surprising: that they were not of the victim. That has been a very clear case of swapped that has taken place and that was something we had communicated to CBI. That indicated that there were some interest in ensuring that evidence has been tampered with," said Dr J Gowrishankar, director, Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad.

The forensic expert also raised doubts over the investigations handled first by Uttar Pradesh police before handing it over to CBI.

"There was one law enforcement agency before it could be transferred to CBI...In all crime-related cases, there was something called chain of custody, which should be maintained and that was broken. That gave certain indication that vested interest was involved," he added.

CBI today filed its closure report in a special court in Ghaziabad in the two-and-a-half-year-old Aarushi murder case in which a teenager and her domestic help were killed at their residence.

The fourteen-year-old daughter of dentist couple Rajesh Talwar and Nupur was found dead with her throat slit at their house at Jalwayu Vihar at Noida on May 16, 2008.

CBI had arrested the three suspects -- Raj Kumar, Vijay Mandal and Krishna -- in the case. Defence counsel Naresh Yadav expressed unhappiness over the closure report and accused CBI of shielding the accused.

"CBI is acting under the influence of certain politicians and wealthy people. CBI knows about the accused involved in the case. Since they (accused) are well off, they are trying to save them. The closure report is also filed in connivance with them," Yadav claimed.