The untold story
Mihir Srivastava
January 14, 2011 | UPDATED 17:21 IST
A disturbing sexual angle has emerged in the murder of Aarushi Talwar,
14. Crucial facts left out from her post-mortem report suggest that her
private parts were "extraordinarily dilated". But there were no signs of
rape. These facts, established by the CBI after they questioned the
doctor who performed the post-mortem, give a new twist to the case."The
vaginal orifice of the deceased was unduly large and mouth of cervix was
visible," says the CBI's closure report.
Her
private parts were cleaned. This caused water stains on the bedsheet.
There was no semen on the bedsheet. But the pyjamas Aarushi wore did not
have water stains on it. This shows that the crime scene was dressed
up. The CBI believes Aarushi may have been killed elsewhere and the body
placed on her bed.
A
parallel investigation by Headlines Today reveals that the chairperson
of the National Commission on Women (NCW) Girija Vyas allegedly scuttled
a probe into the Aarushi's murder by a two-member NCW committee. Soon
after the killing, this committee visited the Talwar house in Jalvayu
Vihar, Noida, to investigate. Former NCW member Nirmala Venkatesh
alleges that as soon as they stepped into Hemraj's room, she got five
calls from Vyas, asking her to stop the probe. Vyas initially denied
there was an inquiry and that a committee was formed. She later admitted
that there was, but said the report was not made public because the CBI
was about to investigate.
These sensational revelations fly in the face of the CBI's closure
report. Last month, the CBI sought the special court's permission to
close the double murder case because it could not solve it.
Though the CBI has been unable to nail the accused, its investigations have completely ruled out the possibility of outsiders having killed Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj Banjade. Circumstantial evidence points to the complicity of those inside. The crime scene was methodically "dressed up"or cleansed of all evidence which could implicate the Talwars. An expert from the forensic science laboratory, Gandhinagar, who inspected the crime scene, says that the crime had been committed by someone "very close to Aarushi".
Nobody except the killer or killers, of course, knows what exactly happened in the Talwar residence during the six crucial hours between 12 midnight and 6 a.m. on May 16, 2008, when both Hemraj and Aarushi were brutally murdered within an hour. Aarushi was bludgeoned on her forehead and her throat slit with a small, sharp object. So was Hemraj.
A reconstruction of the crime, however, increasingly points to an inside hand. The assailants had gained easy access to the flat because there were no signs of forced entry. They killed Aarushi and Hemraj, moved their bodies around the flat and even stayed behind for drinks. The parents of Aarushi, Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, seem to have slept through an incredible amount of activity in their small flat. They claimed their bedroom door was shut and the air-conditioner turned on.
The murderer dragged Hemraj's body to the terrace using a sheet. The body was cursorily covered with a cooler lid and a bedsheet on a clothesline. The murderers then locked the terrace door and re-entered the house. They even seemed to know where the Talwars' mini-bar was-behind a wooden panel near the dining table. They drank from a bottle of whiskey and left it on the dining table. The bottle had bloodstains of both victims.
At around 3.43 a.m., the Internet router in Aarushi's room was switched off. That means that somebody entered her room nearly three hours after her murder. Whoever it was, failed to raise the alarm or even spot her body.
At 6.01 a.m., housemaid Bharti arrived. She rang the doorbell four times. Normally, Hemraj, the domestic help, would open the door, but this time Nupur opened it. Rajesh was also awake. This was unusual because the couple were late risers. The iron grill door at the entrance was locked from outside, so Nupur threw the keys from the balcony to Bharti. Three minutes later, when Bharti entered, she found the couple sobbing. "Dekho Hemraj ne kya kar diya (look what Hemraj has done)". Aarushi was found on the bed in a pool of blood. Bharti rushed out to inform the neighbours. Hemraj's room had an independent entry and opened into the flat from inside.
Another
strange incident happened around this time. Nupur called Hemraj's
cellphone from her landline at 6.01 a.m. The call was immediately
disconnected. This means the dead servant's phone was attended by
someone near the crime scene. Inexplicably, both Hemraj's and Aarushi's
cellphones disappeared. Hemraj's phone was never found but Aarushi's
Nokia N72 was found on a dirt track by a housemaid near Noida's Sadarpur
area a fortnight later. Its memory was wiped clean. The cellphone was a
crucial piece of evidence.
Aarushi would usually be up chatting with her friends until well past
midnight. On the night of May 15, her cellphone was inactive after 9.10
p.m. At around midnight, her friend Anmol called on the Talwar landline
because he could not get through her cellphone. There was no response.
Anmol then sent an SMS to her cellphone at around 12.30. This SMS was
not received by Aarushi's phone.
What were the Talwars doing before the murders? According to the CBI closure report, after reaching home at 9.30 p.m., they dined with Aarushi, then took a few pictures on a new digital camera they bought for Aarushi as a birthday gift and retired by around 11 p.m. Around this time, Nupur came to Aarushi's room to switch on the Internet router. Aarushi was reading a book.
The parents controlled access to Aarushi's room by locking it; the keys to her room would usually lie by Nupur's bedside. Nupur told the police that she was not sure whether she locked Aarushi's door the last time she went to her room. Rajesh received a call from the US on his landline at this time. This indicated that his ringer was not silent. He surfed the Internet, sent some emails, surveyed stock market sites and some dentistry sites. He sent his last email at 11.57 p.m. before presumably going to sleep.
The following morning, the bunch of keys to the flat and terrace were found on the bed in Hemraj's room by Nupur. Aarushi's bedroom keys were found in the living room. It was the only set of house keys, so it is still not clear how the Talwars were locked from the outside. The police arrived an hour later, at 7.15 a.m. They were met by a crowd inside. There were 15 people in the living room and five-six people in the Talwars' bedroom. Only Aarushi's room was empty. The crime scene was completely trampled upon.
The "Hemraj killed Aarushi" theory was gospel for a full day. Rajesh repeatedly told the police officers to pursue Hemraj and not to waste time in his flat. He dissuaded them from opening the locked terrace door and even offered the policemen Rs.25,000 to rush to Hemraj's village in Nepal.
The CBI and police mention they saw the concerted efforts by the Talwars to put the blame on Hemraj as a diversionary tactic. Meanwhile, doctors visiting the Talwars saw bloodstains on the handle of the locked terrace door. They also saw wiped bloody footmarks and blood stains on the upper staircase. Rajesh was asked for the keys but he went inside his residence after seeing the blood-stained door handle. The police failed to open the door for a full day.
Aarushi's
body was taken for a post-mortem in Noida at about 9 a.m. and her last
rites performed late in the evening. The Talwars' domestic staff showed
undue haste in thoroughly cleaning up floors and walls of Aarushi's room
with soap and water. Aarushi's blood-stained mattress was dumped on the
terrace belonging to neighbour Puneet Tandon.
Meanwhile, when the post-mortem report was being written between 3
p.m. and 6 p.m. on May 16, a telephonic loop was created between
Rajesh's elder brother Dinesh Talwar, family friend Dr Sushil Chaudhury,
K.K. Gautam, a retired deputy superintendent of police, and an
unidentified number. Dinesh would call Chaudhury who would call Gautam.
The latter would dial an unidentified number. This sequence was then
reversed. This loop was created six times that evening. The CBI claims
that it was done to delete references to "rape" in Aarushi's post-mortem
report.
Some 28 fingerprint samples were lifted from the scene of crime and handed over to the CBI on May 20. This was 10 days before the case was formally handed over to the CBI. Most of the fingerprints, especially those on the whiskey bottle, were smudged.
Between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on May 17, this loop was repeated twice. Soon after these calls were made, Gautam arrived at the Talwar house and asked for the terrace door to be opened after examining the site of crime. Before calling the local police to open the door, he called a top Uttar Pradesh police officer and then his journalist friends so that the door is opened in media glare. Gautam told them that there was likely to be an interesting discovery.
When
the local police arrived at the Talwar residence, the media was already
there. The keys to the terrace were still missing, so the lock was
broken to enter the terrace. Hemraj's body was discovered. However,
vital clues were missing-the blood-soaked clothes of the perpetrators,
the cloth used to clean the floor and the sheet on which Hemraj's body
was dragged.
Was there a definite ploy to hide Hemraj's body? And why leave it on
the terrace? CBI sleuths believe the body was hidden on the roof by the
murderer for disposal later. But the media glare made it virtually
impossible to spirit away the body, hence they changed the plan. It may
prove as difficult for the CBI to walk away from one of India's most
sensational whodunits.
Aarushi Talwar
Aarushi's bedroom
BodyAarushi's body was lying undisturbed on her bed despite the use of violent force in the assault. Her bleeding shows two patterns: draining and splashes of droplets. 
Aarushi's bedroom
BedsheetThe bedsheet does not show any disturbance or signs of use of violence or force. Pink pillow kept on the back of the bed falls within the blood pattern area but there are no blood droplets on it. 
Aarushi's bedroom
Doors Door to Aarushi's room was found open. The position of door key, which was found in the living room, is unexplained. Parents were the custodian of that key. NeckAarushi's neck slit later with a small, sharp surgical instrument by a trained person that resulted in excessive bleeding. Her school bag found nearby did not have any bloodstains. GarmentsThe lower garments of Aarushi appear to be pulled up and down. Her back is visible. There was no sign of rape but her private parts were extraordinarily dilated. StainsA circular wet mark visible below pelvic area of Aarushi's body on the bedsheet. However, her visibly untied pyjamas do not have any signs of wetness. |
Though the CBI has been unable to nail the accused, its investigations have completely ruled out the possibility of outsiders having killed Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj Banjade. Circumstantial evidence points to the complicity of those inside. The crime scene was methodically "dressed up"or cleansed of all evidence which could implicate the Talwars. An expert from the forensic science laboratory, Gandhinagar, who inspected the crime scene, says that the crime had been committed by someone "very close to Aarushi".
Nobody except the killer or killers, of course, knows what exactly happened in the Talwar residence during the six crucial hours between 12 midnight and 6 a.m. on May 16, 2008, when both Hemraj and Aarushi were brutally murdered within an hour. Aarushi was bludgeoned on her forehead and her throat slit with a small, sharp object. So was Hemraj.
A reconstruction of the crime, however, increasingly points to an inside hand. The assailants had gained easy access to the flat because there were no signs of forced entry. They killed Aarushi and Hemraj, moved their bodies around the flat and even stayed behind for drinks. The parents of Aarushi, Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, seem to have slept through an incredible amount of activity in their small flat. They claimed their bedroom door was shut and the air-conditioner turned on.
The murderer dragged Hemraj's body to the terrace using a sheet. The body was cursorily covered with a cooler lid and a bedsheet on a clothesline. The murderers then locked the terrace door and re-entered the house. They even seemed to know where the Talwars' mini-bar was-behind a wooden panel near the dining table. They drank from a bottle of whiskey and left it on the dining table. The bottle had bloodstains of both victims.
At around 3.43 a.m., the Internet router in Aarushi's room was switched off. That means that somebody entered her room nearly three hours after her murder. Whoever it was, failed to raise the alarm or even spot her body.
At 6.01 a.m., housemaid Bharti arrived. She rang the doorbell four times. Normally, Hemraj, the domestic help, would open the door, but this time Nupur opened it. Rajesh was also awake. This was unusual because the couple were late risers. The iron grill door at the entrance was locked from outside, so Nupur threw the keys from the balcony to Bharti. Three minutes later, when Bharti entered, she found the couple sobbing. "Dekho Hemraj ne kya kar diya (look what Hemraj has done)". Aarushi was found on the bed in a pool of blood. Bharti rushed out to inform the neighbours. Hemraj's room had an independent entry and opened into the flat from inside.
| The last call received on Hemraj's cellphone was from Nupur six hours after his murder. The mobile was still near the crime scene. |
What were the Talwars doing before the murders? According to the CBI closure report, after reaching home at 9.30 p.m., they dined with Aarushi, then took a few pictures on a new digital camera they bought for Aarushi as a birthday gift and retired by around 11 p.m. Around this time, Nupur came to Aarushi's room to switch on the Internet router. Aarushi was reading a book.
The parents controlled access to Aarushi's room by locking it; the keys to her room would usually lie by Nupur's bedside. Nupur told the police that she was not sure whether she locked Aarushi's door the last time she went to her room. Rajesh received a call from the US on his landline at this time. This indicated that his ringer was not silent. He surfed the Internet, sent some emails, surveyed stock market sites and some dentistry sites. He sent his last email at 11.57 p.m. before presumably going to sleep.
The following morning, the bunch of keys to the flat and terrace were found on the bed in Hemraj's room by Nupur. Aarushi's bedroom keys were found in the living room. It was the only set of house keys, so it is still not clear how the Talwars were locked from the outside. The police arrived an hour later, at 7.15 a.m. They were met by a crowd inside. There were 15 people in the living room and five-six people in the Talwars' bedroom. Only Aarushi's room was empty. The crime scene was completely trampled upon.
The "Hemraj killed Aarushi" theory was gospel for a full day. Rajesh repeatedly told the police officers to pursue Hemraj and not to waste time in his flat. He dissuaded them from opening the locked terrace door and even offered the policemen Rs.25,000 to rush to Hemraj's village in Nepal.
The CBI and police mention they saw the concerted efforts by the Talwars to put the blame on Hemraj as a diversionary tactic. Meanwhile, doctors visiting the Talwars saw bloodstains on the handle of the locked terrace door. They also saw wiped bloody footmarks and blood stains on the upper staircase. Rajesh was asked for the keys but he went inside his residence after seeing the blood-stained door handle. The police failed to open the door for a full day.
| In cold blood There were no signs of forced entry into the flat which was locked from outside.The keys were found inside the house, clearly hinting at involvement of insiders.Aarushi was killed first,Hemraj later.The domestic help's body was dragged to the terrace in a sheet. Strangely, the killers took care to lock the terrace door.They then re-entered the house for a drink from the mini-bar before leaving, locking the door from outside. |
Some 28 fingerprint samples were lifted from the scene of crime and handed over to the CBI on May 20. This was 10 days before the case was formally handed over to the CBI. Most of the fingerprints, especially those on the whiskey bottle, were smudged.
Between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on May 17, this loop was repeated twice. Soon after these calls were made, Gautam arrived at the Talwar house and asked for the terrace door to be opened after examining the site of crime. Before calling the local police to open the door, he called a top Uttar Pradesh police officer and then his journalist friends so that the door is opened in media glare. Gautam told them that there was likely to be an interesting discovery.
| The absence of a motive, a missing murder weapon and an incomplete understanding of events prevented the CBI from booking Talwar. |
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/the+untold+story/1/126593.html
