Aarushi’s parents Rajesh,Nupur get life term for killing her and Hemraj

Pronouncing the quantum of punishment for Talwars,the court gave life imprisonment under Sections 302 (murder),five years in jail for both under Section 201 (destruction of evidence).

Aarushi’s father Rajesh,who was also found guilty under Section 203 for misleading the police by filing a fake FIR,was sentenced to additional one year.

The Talwars will challenge the sentence in Allahabad High Court,reports said.

After five-and-a-half years of twists and turns in the sensational 2008 double murders ,the court on Monday held the Talwars guilty under the charges of murder with common intent and destruction of evidence with common intent.

In his 204-page judgement,Additional sessions judge Shyam Lal said the couple had flouted the “ferocious penal code of the land” and had breached the commandment “thou shall not kill” and the injunction of the Holy Quran,”take not life which God has made sacred”.

After the CBI court pronounced its verdict,the dentist couple were taken into custody and brought to Dasna jail. Nupur Talwar suffered high blood pressure and anxiety after she and her husband Rajesh were brought to the Dasna jail.

It was at 6 am on May 16,2008,when the Talwars’ domestic help reached their L-32,Jalvayu Vihar flat in Noida,that the body of 14-year-old Aarushi was found in her bedroom.

Both police and Talwars first blamed the missing domestic help,Hemraj,for the murder. But Hemraj’s body was found on the terrace the next day,with injuries very similar to those found on Aarushi’s body.

Noida police faced flak for several lapses in investigation and a week after the murder,Rajesh Talwar was arrested. At the time,senior police officers said Aarushi and Hemraj were found in a “compromising” position and Rajesh had attacked them with a golf club.

The investigation was then handed over to the CBI,and Rajesh Talwar let off for lack of solid evidence.

Three friends of Hemraj — Krishna,Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal — were arrested. CBI had said it found a khukri at the residence of Krishna,who was a compounder at Rajesh Talwar’s clinic. In three months,the three were let off for want of evidence.

September 2009 brought a change of CBI team,and with it renewed suspicion on Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. In a closure report filed by CBI investigating officer AGL Kaul,the agency maintained that the murders had been committed by Rajesh Talwar but there was insufficient evidence for a chargesheet to be filed. A Ghaziabad court rejected the closure report in February 2011,and ordered that a trial begin with both Rajesh and Nupur Talwar as the accused in the case.