Life imprisonment for Talwars : Timeline of the murder case

The verdict in the much talked about double murder case of Aarushi Talwar and domestic help Hemraj is out. The court has sentenced Rajesh and Nupur Talwar life imprisonment for the double murder case under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code.

They have been sentenced under Sec 302 of IPC, 5 years under Sec 203, 1 year for Rajesh Talwar under Sec 201. The court has also awarded the Talwars a fine of Rs 17,000.

The time for imprisonment has not been defined.

The line of argument that went on in CBI special court for a brief period in this case earlier in the day had the prosecution dominating the scene. The CBI had sought death penalty for Talwars with public prosecutor R.K. Saini arguing that the case comes under the “rarest of rare” category.

On the other hand, the counsel for the Talwars sought leniency from the court. The couple was in the court during the arguments on the quantum of their sentence. They had insisted that they were innocent.

The Talwars were held guilty of murdering their 14-year-old daughter and domestic help on Monday. Both were found dead with their throats slit at the Talwar residence in Noida in May 2008.

Delivering the much-awaited verdict yesterday, Special CBI Judge Shyam Lal had said that both the accused (Talwars) have “flouted the ferocious penal law of the land” and therefore are liable to be convicted in the double murder case.

“Now is the time to say omega in this case. To perorate, it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused are perpetrators of the crime in the question. The parents are the best protectors of their own child that is in order of human nature but they have been freaks in the history of mankind where the father and mother became the killer of their own progeny,” the judge had said in a 204-page judgment.

It had added: “They have extirpated their own daughter who had hardly seen 14 summers of her life and the servant without compunction from terrestrial terrain in the breach of commandment “Thou shalt not kill”.

The court had also quoted holy the Quran, saying, “Take not life which God had made sacred.”

Timeline of the murder case

1. May 16, 2008: Aarushi Talwar, the daughter of dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar was found dead with her throat slit at her house in Noida. Family’s domestic help Hemraj was the main suspected of killing her.
2. May 17, 2008: Hemraj’s body found on the terrace of Talwar’s house. Noida Sector-20 Police Station Officer (SO) Dataram Nauneria shifted for lapses in investigations. However, autopsy report rules out sexual assault.
3. 18 May 2008: Delhi Police join murder probe; police say murder committed by a “doctor or a butcher”.
4. 22 May 2008: Family under suspicion; honour killing angle probed. Police also quiz Aarushi’s close friend, whom she spoke to 688 times in the 45 days preceding her murder.
5. May 23, 2008: Aarushi’s father Rajesh Talwar arrested for double murder.
6. May 31, 2008: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) takes over case.
7. June 13, 2008: Krishna, Rajesh Talwar’s compounder, arrested by the CBI. Ten days later, Raj Kumar, the servant of a doctor friend of the Talwars, and Vijay Mandal, the domestic help of Talwars’ neighbour, were also nabbed. The arrest follows polygraph test and Narco Analysis test at Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Bangalore the day before. He was earlier subjected to polygraph test twice at CFSL, Delhi as well as psychological assessment test at AIIMS, New Delhi on June 9, 2008; based on the test results, CBI arrested Krishna.
8. June 14, 2008: Krishna the compounder of Dr Rajesh Talwar produced before the Duty Magistrate, district courts, Ghaziabad. CBI requests for 14 days police custody of Krishna for further investigation. The Magistrate grants 3 days police custody remand. He is to be produced before the Special Magistrate for CBI cases at Ghaziabad on June 17, 2008. A CBI team had earlier conducted a search at Krishna’s former premises at Jalvayu Vihar, Noida and seized some clothes and other materials for forensic examination. Rajkumar, the Nepalese domestic help of the Duranis, was subjected to polygraph test at CFSL, Delhi.
9. June 17, 2008: Krishna produced before special magistrate, CBI court, Ghaziabad. CBI applies for further 11 days police custody remand to continue the investigation. The magistrate grants 6 days police custody. He is to be produced before the CBI magistrate, Ghaziabad on June 23, 2008. A team accompanied by a forensic expert search the room where Rajkumar used to live in Sector 53, Noida. Material seized from the room on June 13, 2008 is forensically examined.
10. June 19, 2008: Judicial custody of Dr Rajesh Talwar extended up to July 2, 2008. An application is moved for a second lie detection test of Dr Rajesh Talwar, as his first lie detection test remained inconclusive. A lie detector test was also conducted on Vijay Mandal, the domestic help of a neighbour of the Talwars.
11. June 20, 2008: Lie detection test of Dr Rajesh Talwar conducted at CFSL, Delhi.
12. June 23, 2008: Krishna produced before the special magistrate, CBI courts, Ghaziabad. CBI requests further custody of Krishna for 4 days for further interrogation and recovery of weapon. The magistrate passes an order extending his police custody by 4 days. He is to be produced before the Court on 27 June 2008.
13. June 25, 2008: Second lie detection test conducted on Dr Nupur Talwar. Her first lie detection test was found inconclusive.
14. June 26, 2008: The CBI declares the case to be a ‘blind case’. Dr Rajesh Talwar refused bail by the special magistrate, CBI courts, Ghaziabad.
15. June 27, 2008: Krishna taken to Talwars’ residence by the CBI and thereafter produced before the special magistrate, where his bail plea is rejected once again. The Talwars’ family friends Duranis’ Nepalese domestic help Rajkumar arrested on the suspicion of involvement in the murder. Washed T-shirts with faint human blood stains seized and sent for DNA matching. However, the Duranis (doctors themselves) maintain that the stains could be from the boils that Rajkumar had on his body. Rajkumar had already been subjected to polygraph test, psychological assessment, brain mapping and NARCO analysis at FSL, Gandhinagar from June 23 to 26, 2008.
16. June 28, 2008: Rajkumar produced before special magistrate, CBI court, Ghaziabad and is sent to police custody for 14 days.
17. June 30, 2008: Krishna’s lawyer approaches a Ghaziabad court for bail. Bail is refused as the court that was approached does not have sufficient powers in this case. CBI joint director in charge of the investigation, Arun Kumar, is recalled to his original cadre in Uttar Pradesh.
18. July 12, 2008: Rajesh given bail by a Ghaziabad court after CBI fails to present evidence against him.
19. January 5, 2010: CBI moves court to conduct NARCo test on Talwar couple.
20. December 29, 2010: The CBI files closure report, stating Rajesh is the main suspect, but there is not enough evidence against him.
21. January 25, 2011: Rajesh Talwar attacked in Ghaziabad court premises.
22. February 9, 2011: A special Ghaziabad court rejects CBI’s closure report and orders that Rajesh and Nupur Talwar be tried for Aarushi’s murder. The couple also face allegations of destruction of evidence. A CBI special court in Ghaziabad issues bailable warrants against the couple for not being present in court.
23. March 14, 2012: The CBI argues in court for cancellation of Rajesh Talwar’s bail.
24. April 30, 2012: Nupur Talwar arrested.
25. May 3, 2012: Sessions court rejects Nupur Talwar’s bail plea.
26. May 25, 2013: Rajesh and Nupur Talwar charged by Ghaziabad court with murder, destruction of evidence and conspiracy.
27. September 25, 2013: Nupur Talwar released on bail on the Supreme Court’s order.
28. April 2013: CBI officer tells court that Aarushi and Hemraj were killed by the Talwars. CBI also tells court that Aarushi and Hemraj were found in an objectionable, compromising position.
29. May 3, 2013: Defence counsel pleads before a special court to summon 14 people, including former CBI joint director Arun Kumar as witness. CBI opposes the plea.
30. May 6, 2013: Trial court dismisses Talwar’s petition for summoning 14 witnesses. It orders recording of statements of Rajesh and Nupur Talwar.
31. October 18, 2013: CBI closes arguments, says Talwars ‘misled’ investigators.
32. November 12, 2013: Court reserves verdict in the case for November 25.
33. November 25, 2013: Court to deliver verdict in double-murder case.
34. November 25, 2013: The Talwars have been convicted for the murders of Aarushi and Hemraj. The doctor couple have been charged under IPC sections of 34, 201, 203 and 302 and taken to Dasna Jail.
35. November 26, 2013: Quantum of punishment announced. Talwars held guilty and sentenced life imprisonment under section 302 of IPC.

-with inputs from agencies