Ghaziabad, Aug 30 (IANS) In the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case, a retired Uttar Pradesh Police officer told a special court here Thursday that he was approached by a person to help doctor the slain teenaged schoolgirl’s autopsy report.
K.K. Gautam, who retired as deputy superintendent of police, told Special Judge S. Lal THursday that he was approached by an eye surgeon by phone with a request to doctor murdered teenager Aarushi Talwar’s autopsy report so as to remove any mention of “rape”, if at all it was established.
During his cross-examination by defence lawyer Satyaketu Singh, Gautam said he refused to help the person who approached him.
Aarushi, 14, was found murdered at her parents’ Noida flat May 16, 2008. The body of her domestic help Hemraj was found the next day on the terrace of the house.
Gautam said that on the day after her murder he received a phone call from eye surgeon Sushil Chaudhary that the niece of one of his friends doctor Dinesh Talwar, Aarushi, had been murdered and her parents apprehended that if a rape got detected during her autopsy, it could damage their reputation.
Chaudhary sought help to doctor the autopsy report so that if rape was established in the tests, it should not be mentioned in the autopsy, Gautam said.
He told the court that a day after the crime when he went to Hemraj’s room, he noticed signs that suggested that at least three people drank alcohol there.
A partially consumed whisky bottle and three empty glasses were found lying on the floor and there were signs on a bedsheet that suggested that three-four people may have been present in the room, he said.
The retired police officer said May 17, 2008, he visited Aarushi’s house to pay condolence to her parents but he did not meet them as they were in Haridwar in Uttarakhand for performing their daughter’s last rites.
He said, out of curiosity, he went to the rooms in the house where the murders took place and also climbed up the stairs leading to the terrace but found its door locked.
Gautam said he asked Dinesh Talwar but he had no knowledge of the keys.
The former police officer said he called up then superintendent of police (city) Mahesh Mishra, who sent investigation officer Data Ram Nanoria, who broke open the terrace door lock and found Hemraj’s body on the terrace.
The retired police officer told the court that he gave all these details while recording this statement before the investigation officer July 1, 2008.
After Gautam’s testimony the court adjourned the hearing to Friday.
Aarushi’s father Rajesh Talwar and mother Nupur Talwar are the accused in the double murder.
Nupur Talwar was taken into custody April 30 and she challenged in the apex court the May 31 rejection of her bail plea by the Allahabad High Court. She is lodged in Dasna jail in Ghaziabad. Her husband is out on bail.
