Aarushi-Hemraj: Will we ever know? May 16th, 2008: I remember the date as if it was yesterday. I was the morning reporter that day and so at around 7 am when I got a call of a murder in Noida, my first reaction was, oh god! What an awful start to the day! I used to cover courts at that point and so Saturday, when courts were usually shut, was assumed to be a day of less work. But the murder was next door from my Noida office so grudgingly I reached the spot. This was just a few days after the Jaipur blast where more than 50 people have died in serial bombings. Most crime reporters were out of town covering the terror attack so only a handful of us reached L block Jalvayu Vihar in Noida, the scene of crime. In hindsight, this was a rarity for the case for very soon every channel, every newspaper would depute at least 2 reporters on this story from morning till night for months on end. But that day the UP police had no such media management worry. Police arrived at the crime scene, declared within an hour or so that a young girl had been murdered by the domestic help who has fled. The Noida police officer held up a passport size photograph of the help and claimed he would soon be nabbed as police had details of his family and his Nepal address. Police also found the servants passport which was with the victims family. We went on air elaborating how modern families with both husband and wife working are dependant on helps and how this incident will once again make such couple apprehensive about security of the wards they leave behind. Noida police looked through the belongings of the help at the top floor house. The doors were ajar and I could see the parents sitting in the living room. Relatives trouped in to console the couple and requested us to give them some privacy. As I stepped back I remember noting some stains which looked like blood on the stairs leading to the terrace of the building. But the police wasnt picking up any evidence from this part of the house and I soon got busy taking shots of what they were doing. The blood stains were soon forgotten - a lapse, which I and the police would soon regret. My next recollection from that morning is the father bringing down the victims body wrapped in a bed sheet. He appeared distraught, losing his balance once in a while. The UP police later claimed that the father had a drink too many at night. The body was sent for post mortem and I packed off for the day. Came back to office filed my story and went home. Sunday was my day off and I was watching a movie in the afternoon when my colleague gave me a call. A frantic call, asking for the address of the house I had gone the day before. I asked Raheel, my colleague what had happened and he said the servants body had been found on the roof of the house. I lost all interest in the film. This was no longer just another crime, the entire story had spun on its head. And the most talked about murder mysteries of our time Aarushi-Hemraj double murder was born! The next few days, months and years were spent trying to get an answer as to who killed Aarushi and Hemraj. UP police IG Gurdarshan Singh in his rustic ways declared the father Rajesh Talwar guilty a week later. That press conference itself can be subject of a blog. It was a 15-20 feet long room which was accommodating 100 cameras and journalists at least! The officer addressing the press forgot the name of the victim, calling her Shruti again and again. He said things like father was as characterless as daughter, he found her in objectionable but not compromising position, etc and ensured that no one took UP police investigation seriously. The days after that press conference was spent slamming the UP police and getting the Talwar familys version. The mother Nupur Talwar was soon a woman wronged twice, first by the killers and then by the police. But the last chapter in this unfolding drama hadnt yet been written. The CBI took over investigations and amusingly began by looking for the murder weapon in the water tanks of the Java Vihar colony. The compounder of the Talwars and his friends were arrested and the heat it seemed was off Rajesh Talwar. Wherever I went, back home to my family after work, social gatherings, even aam aadmi I met during the course of my daily work - the question was the same - Who killed Aarushi? Did the father actually do it? Some were convinced that the CBI had got the right culprits others thought the servants were easy prey. 5 years later the question is still unanswered and I am not sure if the November 25th order from the Ghaziabad court will give a satisfactory answer to those seeking it. Justice they say shouldnt just be done but it should be seen to be done! Will the Special Court Judge manage to fulfill this criterion of justice on November 25th?
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 04:11:53 +0000
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