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Couple found guilty of murdering their daughter & servant in India

A wealthy dentist couple have been found guilty of murdering their teenage daughter and servant b...
Newstalk
Newstalk

14.58 25 Nov 2013


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Couple found guilty of murderi...

Couple found guilty of murdering their daughter & servant in India

Newstalk
Newstalk

14.58 25 Nov 2013


Share this article


A wealthy dentist couple have been found guilty of murdering their teenage daughter and servant by slitting their throats.

Rajesh and Nupur Talwar burst into tears when the verdict was read out in a packed courtroom - in a case which has gripped India.

"We are deeply disappointed, hurt and anguished for being convicted for a crime that we have not committed. We refuse to feel defeated and will continue to fight for justice" the Talwars said in a written statement.

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The couple face life in prison and possibly the death penalty when Judge Shyam Lal hands down his sentence on Tuesday.

They had been charged with killing 14-year-old Aarushi and Nepalese employee Hemraj, 45, at their home in a New Delhi suburb in 2008.

Investigators alleged Aarushi was murdered in a fit of rage when her parents found her with the servant in an "objectionable" situation. The trial heard the affluent couple slit their victims' throats "with clinical precision".

Lawyer Manoj Kumar Rai, who was inside the court to hear the verdict, told reporters "They have been found guilty of murder. They have been found guilty of the destruction of evidence."

The defendants insisted they were victims of police incompetence and a media witch-hunt.

Rajesh Talwar recently told the AFP news agency "We loved Aarushi, we have no lives without her. This has been a never-ending nightmare". He was attacked in 2011 just outside the court building during the trial by a man with a meat cleaver, leaving his cheek and hand deeply scarred.

The prosecution had conceded there was no forensic or material evidence against the couple, and based its case on the "last-seen theory" - claiming the victims were last seen with the accused.

When Aarushi was found on her bed with her throat slit one morning in May 2008, police initially blamed the missing domestic servant, Hemraj. A day later, they discovered his decomposing body on the roof - his throat was also cut and he had a head wound.

Officers then arrested Rajesh Talwar's Nepalese dental assistant along with two other local servants - Hemraj's friends - but they were all later released because of a lack of hard evidence.

The case was closed in 2010 by police, citing no substantial evidence, amid allegations of a botched probe with investigators failing to seal off the crime scene, allowing neighbours and relatives to walk over it.

The Talwars insisted they wanted the killers found and petitioned a court to re-open the case. But they found themselves charged with murder, as media speculation about the successful couple intensified.


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