Aarushi-Hemraj murder case: SC to hear appeal challenging Talwars' acquittal

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI's) plea challenging dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar's acquittal in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case. 

The top court will hear the arguments in the sensational double murder case along with the pending plea filed by domestic help Hemraj's wife. 

"Leave granted," said the bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising of Justices Navin Sinha and K M Joseph.

In October last year, the Allahabad High Court ruled that the Talwars did not murder their daughter and their domestic help, Hemraj. 

"No chain of evidence has been found. The CBI failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Talwars killed Aarushi. The Talwar couple cannot be convicted on the basis of mere suspicion. They must be given the benefit of doubt," the high court had said at the time. 

On May 16, 2008, 14-year-old Aarushi was found murdered in her bedroom in the Talwar's flat in Noida's Jal Vayu Vihar - her throat slit with surgical precision. It was initially suspected that Hemraj had killed Aarushi. But the case took a shocking turn when Hemraj's body was found two days later from the rooftop of the same apartment building.

The suspicion then shifted to the Talwars, both of whom are dentists. UP police theorised that Rajesh Talwar had acted on impulse after finding Arushi and Hemraj in an "objectionable" position. 

The Talwars and their friends alleged that the blame was being shifted to Aarushi's parents to cover up a botched investigation.

However, the high court freed them of the charges on the ground that they could not be held guilty on the basis of the evidence on record.