Ghaziabad, Aug 31 (IANS) A witness in the Aarushi Talwar-Hemraj double murder case Friday refuted CBI’s claim that he painted the flat soon after the crime, leading to destruction of evidence.
During cross-examination at a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here, Shohrat, a painter, said he painted the Jalvayu Vihar flat of Aarushi’s parents in Noida in July 2009, a year after the murders were committed there.
Defence lawyer Manoj Shishodia said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had claimed that Aarushi’s parents Nupur and Rajesh Talwar destroyed the evidence by painting the house and the wooden partition of Aarushi’s room.
Shohrat recorded his statement before judge S. Lal and said he painted the flat twice — once a decade ago and second time in 2009.
Shishodia said the CBI special magistrate Preeti Singh had taken cognizance after the CBI claimed that the Talwars tampered with evidence.
The couple were slapped with section 201 of the Indian Penal Code despite the defence trying to convince the court that neither did the CBI seal the flat nor ask that it be kept intact, he said.
A second witness, a security guard, was also cross-examined. Bijendra Singh said Jalvayu Vihar had 1,800 flats with nearly 10,000 residents and the guards maintained no register.
He said that on the night of the crime, he did not notice anything suspicious.
He left for home early morning and came to know about the crime after the police called him.
After the cross-examinations, the court had adjourned the hearing for Sep 3.
Aarushi, 14, was found murdered at her parents’ Noida home May 16, 2008. The body of the domestic help Hemraj was found the next day on the building’s terrace.
Nupur Talwar, Aarushi’s mother, was taken into custody April 30 and is lodged in Ghaziabad jail. Aarushi’s father and co-accused Rajesh Talwar is out on bail.
