Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday summoned the records of trial court, which had tried and sentenced dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar for the murders of their daughter Aarushi and domestic aide Hemraj.
A Division Bench comprising Justices VK Shukla and Karuna Nand Bajpayee passed the order while clubbing appeals filed separately by Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. The dentist couple had moved the Allahabad High Court on January 21 against the CBI court order awarding them life sentence for the two murders in November last year.
The High Court granted one month's time to the respondents for filing objections and fixed March 11 as the next date of hearing on the appeals. Talwars have also made a request for bail during the pendency of their petitions.
Aarushi was found dead, with her throat slit, inside the Talwars' Noida residence in May, 2008. Hemraj, who had gone missing, was initially suspected of being involved in the crime until his body was recovered from the terrace a day later.
The sensational case was handed over to the CBI following outrage over the handling of the matter by the Uttar Pradesh police.
The trial court had pronounced its judgement accepting the probe agency's submission that the couple had killed Aarushi and Hemraj in a fit of rage after finding them in an "objectionable position".
The CBI, after probing the murder for over two-and-half years, filed its closure report in the case in the Ghaziabad special CBI court, saying it had been unable to find out any evidence to prosecute the Talwars.
The trial court, however, rejected the CBI closure report, saying there was enough prima facie material in the agency's report to put the couple on trial for their alleged involvement in the twin murders and had issued summons to them
to face trial.
The Talwars had subsequently moved the Allahabad High Court, which dismissed their pleas to quash the trial court summons and the proceedings initiated against them. The Talwar couple then approached the apex court but were denied relief.
After a 15-month trial, Additional Sessions Judge Shyam Lal had held the Talwars guilty of murder and destruction of evidence in the twin killings on the intervening night of May 15 and 16, 2008, days before the birthday of the class nine student.
The father was also convicted for filing wrong information with the Noida police station about the incident.
Denying the charges, the Talwars have claimed innocence in the matter.
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