CBI seeks narco test, Aarushi parents say they’re ready (Second Lead)

GHAZIABAD - A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court here Monday reserved its order on the agency’s plea for a narco test on Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, the parents of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar who was found murdered in their Noida flat on May 16, 2008.

The court reserved its order after hearing the CBI’s arguments for permission to conduct the test.

While their counsel opposed the investigating agency’s move in the court, Talwars expressed willingness to undergo the test. Rajesh Talwar told IANS: “We are ready for any tests…We are OK with it”.

Earlier, CBI counsel Suresh Batra requested Judicial Magistrate (JM) Priti Singh for permission to conduct narco tests on Rajesh and Nupur Talwar.

Batra told the court that after a new team was formed to probe the case, certain “new substantial facts” have surfaced. Therefore, the narco test of the Talwars would be helpful in taking the probe forward.

Opposing the CBI’s plea, Talwars’ counsel Satish Tamta requested the court to reject the CBI plea. Tamta claimed the probe agency was “working under media pressure” and wanted to implicate the Talwars to save its face.

Since the CBI, after finding the parents innocent in the murder case, had earlier submitted its final report, how would a narco test be helpful now? defence counsel asked. Tamta urged the court not to allow the probe agency any further tests as the Talwars were ill.

The court, after hearing arguments from both sides, reserved its judgment.

Reacting to the CBI’s new move, Rajesh Talwar said he was ready for the narco test.

“I am ready for the test, if it helps,” Talwar said.

“We are ready for any tests, it it helps in the case of our daughter. We are OK with it,” Talwar told IANS.

Aarushi Talwar was found with her throat slit and several stab wounds on her face on May 16, 2008, in her parents’ house at Jalvayu Vihar in Noida, a suburb of Delhi. Her dentist father Rajesh Talwar was arrested and charged with the murder of Aarushi and their domestic servant Hemraj, who was found killed on May 17.

Later, the court found Rajesh Talwar innocent and a fresh probe was ordered in this wide open double murder case.