Dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar were held guilty Monday of killing their 14-year-old daughter Aarushi and their domestic help Hemraj,a double murder which transfixed the country when it was committed five-and-a-half years back and had foxed investigators.
Additional sessions judge Shyam Lal held the couple guilty under the charges of murder with common intent and destruction of evidence with common intent. Rajesh was also found guilty under Section 203 for misleading the police by filing a fake FIR.
In his 204-page judgement,the judge 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.
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The court also directed that the arguments on the quantum of punishment will start at 2 pm Tuesday. Sources said the sentence is also likely to be announced Tuesday itself.
As the judge read out the verdict,Nupur broke down and was consoled by family members,lawyers said.
It is understandable that they were very aggrieved. Nupur Talwar broke down into tears and was comforted by her parents. After some documents were signed,they were escorted into a police vehicle and sent to Dasna jail, said Satyaketu Singh,one of defence lawyers who was present inside.
After the announcement,with journalists not allowed inside the CBI court compound due to security reasons,the couple released a statement which read: We are deeply disappointed,hurt and anguished for being convicted for a crime that we have not committed. We refuse to feel defeated and will continue to fight for justice.
Vandana Talwar,the sister-in-law of Rajesh,said those in the family were working class people with nowhere to turn to.
Everybody,the Noida Police,the CBI and now the courts turned against us right from the start. Nobody listened to us. We were pitched against an organisation that believes in fabrication and falsities. There is such extreme prejudice from all quarters,that minds are made up. The facts and the evidence are being pointed at someone else,and this is being called a typographical error by the CBI. Unfortunately,the truth is being submerged under lies, she said.
Vandana was referring to a Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD) report which initially found evidence of Hemrajs blood on a pillow and pillow cover in the room of Krishna – an ex-employee who was previously accused in the case.
This,however,was later deemed a typographical error,after a clarification was sought by the CBI.
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