Ghaziabad:
Nupur and Rajesh Talwar will be tried for murder and destruction of evidence in a court in Ghaziabad, near Delhi. Mr Talwar will also be tried for misleading the court, the judge ruled today.
The dentist-couple have been accused of murdering their 13-year-old daughter Aarushi and their domestic help Hemraj in May 2008 at their home.
Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom; Hemraj was discovered on the terrace 24 hours later.
The Talwars have appealed to the Supreme Court to cancel their trial -that petition has yet to be decided. Mrs Talwar was arrested on April 30. Her request for bail is pending in the Allahabad High Court.
The CBI has said in court that the Talwars found their daughter in a compromising position with Hemraj and killed them using a golf club and another sharp instrument. The agency believes that a golf club found in the house could have caused the injuries found on both victims. However, the Talwars lawyers produced a golf club in court on Wednesday to counter that theory. The Talwars say that Hemraj allowed a group of friends into their home. They were drinking and then tried to molest Aarushi. When she resisted, they say, the assaulters killed her. They then killed Hemraj.
The CBI has said in court that it has circumstantial evidence against the Talwars. In December 2010, the agency asked a CBI court for permission to close the case- it said it had no evidence to accuse anyone of murder, but said at the same time that it believed Mr Talwar was responsible for the double murder in his home. The judge in that court said the case would not be closed and ordered the Talwars to stand trial. Since then, Aarushi's parents have challenged that verdict in different courts.
Mr Talwar was arrested a week after Aarushi's death by the Noida Police. He was released after nearly two months in jail when the CBI, who took over the case, said that there was no evidence against him. (
We were such a happy family: Nupur Talwar [interview from May 2008])