AARUSHI CASE : CBI Seeks Info

AARUSHI CASE : CBI Seeks Info 20 Jan 2009, 0416 hrs IST, TNN NEW DELHI: The probe in the Aarushi-Hemraj murder case hit a dead end months ago, when all the accused managed to get bail, and it seems things are likely to remain that way for at least some time to come. This was obvious when the CBI on Monday again put out newspaper ads promising a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone providing clues. The reward was actually announced on September 9 last year but the fact that the agency has had to again make the same announcement suggests that there is still nothing to prove the case against the three accused — Krishna, Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal — notwithstanding subtle hints by senior CBI officials that the agency may still go ahead and file chargesheet against them. As was the case in September, this time too the advertisement seeks information about the weapon of offence and mobile phones of the victims. In fact, the only difference this time is the mention of a key ring and another key of a padlock. The agency spokesperson, Harsh Bhal, however, did not divulge any detail saying that the investigations are still on. Krishna worked as a compounder with Aarushi's father Dr Rajesh Talwar. Raj Kumar was employed with a close friend of the Talwars and Mandal too worked with one of the family's neighbours. All three of them got bail after the agency couldn't file chargesheet against them in the stipulated 90 days. A senior CBI official said the advertisement had been announced again because all attempts to trace the weapon of offence and the mobile phones of the victims had come to naught. He added that the weapon was sharp-edged and that it might have been a khukri. Aarushi had a Nokia N72 and Hemraj a Tata Indicom phone. An earlier Letter Rogatory or a letter of request sent to Nepal seeking assistance in locating some witnesses and mobile phones did not serve any purpose. The CBI had earlier banked heavily on a T-shirt seized from Raj Kumar's room to prove its case. However, the report on the "human" blood stains from Hyderabad's Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics remained inconclusive. It remains to be seen whether or not CBI goes ahead with the chargesheet without clearly having unearthed any important piece of evidence in the past few months. The agency has sought legal opinion from its directorate of prosecution (DoP) whether it should go ahead with the chargesheet at this stage when the case, in the absence of weapon of offence, mobile phones of victims and other evidence, is mainly dependent on reports of various tests like polygraphy and brain-mapping. A CBI official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that chargesheet would be filed only after taking DoP's suggestions on board. The agency had earlier summoned Krishna and Raj Kumar from Nepal to question them again.

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