On 16th May 2008 the only daughter of Mr. Rajesh and Mrs. Nupur Talwar was found murdered and it was assumed that their man servant Hemraj was responsible for the same. However, a day after the terrace of their flat was searched and the body of Hemraj too discovered. The method of killing both of them was the same and the police got into action soon after. Here we discuss what went wrong in the entire investigation of this controversial murder case.
- UP police accusations– Day 7 of the murder i.e. 23rd May the Inspector general of Meerut range of UP police addressed a press conference in which he accused the child of having an affair with Hemraj. According to them Arushi and Hemraj were apparently discovered in an objectionable position by her father and he slit their throats in a fit of rage. With the Government medical officer Sunil Dohre claiming that nothing abnormal was detected in the genitals of Arushi, they vilified the reputation of a 14 year old girl without even analysing the repercussions of the same.
- CBI investigation- June 2008 this case was handed over to CBI who promptly arrested Rajesh Talwar as well as the other domestic help of the house. In July 2009 the first CBI team concluded that Rajesh was not guilty and acquitted him. However, a second CBI team came into action and after one and a half years they reversed the findings of the previous team blaming both the parents for committing the crime.
- Touch DNA analysis not conducted-All along the Talwar parents kept requesting CBI to conduct Touch DNA analysis on the bloody footprints and palm prints on the terrace. Initially, the CBI agreed to their request but changed their plan soon after. If the parents were responsible for the crime they would not have cooperated in the case investigation.
- Domestic helps-As soon as the murder came to light the domestic helps Vishnu Sharma, Krishna and Vijay Mandal were also brought in the investigation. However, after a botched up investigation, all three were acquitted in 2009. A critical evidence was purple pillow cover which was found in the room of Krishna and it had Hemraj’s blood stains on it. Such an important information was totally excluded from CBI investigation as all attention was diverted to naming the parents as the killers.
- Flip flop statements– All along the investigation the CBI kept changing its stand and even the witnesses gave responses which could not be counted as actual evidence. Documentary evidence that was gathered on the spot was ignored while evidence recorded 2 years after the incident was considered important.
In the Arushi- Hemraj double murder case a lot of investigation was botched up and allegations with not even an iota of truth were made. This not only damaged the reputation of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar but also portrayed Arushi in a negative light. A lot of people jumped to conclusions and considered the parents as criminal’s basis this haphazard investigation. This further led to them not being able to defend themselves the way a normal citizen would have been able to.
