After 11 days of custody, three polygraph tests, one narco-analysis test in Bangalore and several rounds of questioning, the CBI today arrested Dr Rajesh Talwar’s compounder Krishna in the Arushi murder case. A case has been registered against him under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence). This is the second arrest in the case, almost a month after the 14-year-old was found murdered in her Noida home. Earlier, Talwar was arrested for killing his teenaged daughter and their domestic help Hemraj. Late in the night, a CBI team went to the house of Talwar’s colleague Anita Durrani and picked up the mobile of their domestic help, Rajkumar. Rajkumar had been picked up earlier in the day for questioning after his name reportedly figured in the tests done on Krishna in Bangalore.Officials said Krishna was involved in the crime but are yet to disclose the motive for the killing. A senior member of the investigating team told The Indian Express: “We are satisfied that something has come out of the line of investigation that we have been pursuing. All we can say at this stage is that he was involved in the murder.” CBI Joint Director Arun Kumar told reporters that the compounder was arrested on the basis of reports of the polygraph and narco-analysis test conducted on him at the Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Bangalore yesterday.“He (Krishna) was earlier subjected to polygraph twice at the CFSL, Delhi. He was also subjected to a psychological assessment test at AIIMS,” he said. Officials said the tests as well as mobile phone records indicated that Krishna was lying. The CBI is especially relying on lie-detector tests, conducted in New Delhi and Bangalore, which reportedly show Krishna’s “inconsistent” replies. The scientific proof along with “circumstantial” evidence — for instance his “proximity” to Hemraj and his presence in the Talwar house on the night of the twin murders — has made him a suspect.Though officers did not say what role Krishna played in the murders, they believe he was very much a part of the conspiracy and knows where the murder weapon is. Sources said his exact role would be known in a day or two.Immediately after the preliminary results of the narco-analysis test on Krishna at Bangalore came out today, a team of CBI officials went to Dasna jail in Ghaziabad to question Talwar again. Sources said they wanted to clarify some details arising from Krishna’s tests. Krishna was reportedly asked around 350 questions during the tests centred around three aspects — whether he was the murderer, whether he knew about the killings, and whether he helped in the crime and then in the destruction of evidence.Sources said his statements differed from what he had told the police earlier as well as what Arushi’s mother Nupur, Anita and others had to say about his whereabouts that night. Krishna would be produced in court tomorrow and the CBI will seek his custody.Officials said the role of other persons involved in the crime is also being investigated.
