Novocaine Files

• The postmortem report says that Aarushi and Hemraj were attacked by a blunt object 4 inches thick and 8 inches long. It said this indicates the use of a khukri-like weapon.
  
• The throats of the two victims were slit after they were murdered.
  
• E-mails sent by Aarushi indicate she and her father had their spats.
  
• There were no signs of struggle on Hemraj's body. This means he went to the terrace of the Talwar flat with people he knew.
  
• Murder took place between 1 am- 3 am on May 16.

• Dr Rajesh Talwar killed his daughter since he discovered her in an "objectionable" position with their help, Hemraj. The alleged efforts of the family to destroy evidence by cleaning the scene of the crime, removing Aarushi's mattress, the hasty cremation and Talwar talking to his lawyers about anticipatory bail are some pieces of circumstantial evidence being cited.
  
• Another theory suggests that Hemraj had got into a fight with his cousin Raju who was killed in April under mysterious circumstances. The latter's friends may have called on Hemraj after the Talwars went to bed. They had a few drinks and entered Aarushi's room and killed her for some unknown reason. They may have tried to sexually assault her or may have killed her when she raised an alarm. Later, they killed Hemraj, a witness to the crime. The police recovered three glasses next to a whisky bottle taken from Dr Talwar's bar in Hemraj's room. Did he let two people in?

• UP CM Mayawati says she is ready to hand over the case to the CBI
  
• Dr Talwar was sent to three days police custody from May 27
  
• The murder weapon is yet to be recovered
  
• The Noida police submitted a five-page report to the court on May 29 with "evidence" recovered from Aarushi's computer

***

But in the early hours of May 16, just hours before she was to turn 14, Aarushi's life was snuffed out in the most brutal manner. When the Noida police reached the murder scene (her room), they discovered Aarushi lying wrapped in a jumble of blood-soaked bedsheets and a mattress, part of her face smashed and disfigured beyond recognition and her throat slit so deep, her head was barely attached to her torso.

The initial needle of suspicion swung convincingly towards the family's 45-year-old help, Yam Prasad Banjade (better known as Hemraj), a Nepali who had been working for the Talwars for several years. He had gone missing and a manhunt was launched by the police. But a day later, Hemraj's body was discovered rotting in the May heat on the terrace of the Talwar flat by K.K. Gautam, a retired police officer. The cops had goofed up the first day itself, not even conducting a detailed search of the premises where a murder had been discovered. With their first suspect ending up a victim, the Noida police began to examine their clues afresh.

Nine days later, at a hurriedly called press conference by the Meerut range IGP Gurdarshan Singh, the Noida police pronounced Aarushi's father, Dr Rajesh Talwar, as the killer. Punctuated with insensitive innuendo and indiscreet language, Singh claimed that Talwar, in a fit of alcohol-induced rage, had brutally killed his daughter as well as Hemraj. When quizzed over the motive, the IGP said with considerable gravity that Talwar had witnessed Hemraj and Aarushi in an "objectionable but not compromising" position and had flown into a rage.

He also alleged that Aarushi was upset at her father's extramarital affair with close family friend and colleague, Dr Anita Durrani. The affair apparently had led to some awkwardness between him and Aarushi. Then there was Talwar's consternation at his daughter's growing "intimacy" with a classmate. All this, it seems, was enough for the enraged father to commit the two murders.

But the Talwar family wasn't buying any of it. Aarushi's mother gave a series of TV/press interviews claiming her husband was a "loving and caring father", and how could they suggest he was capable of murdering their only child. But the police refused to relent. They produced Talwar in a local Noida court and whisked him away on May 27 to an undisclosed destination after securing three days police remand from the court.

Meanwhile, as the shoddy police investigation rolled on in fits and starts, salacious rumours started tumbling out. The Talwars, some quarters stated with authority, was a deeply dysfunctional family with the couple engaging in all kinds of "deviant behaviour". Was the couple part of a larger clique? Was the "affair" between Rajesh Talwar and Anita Durrani part of a more organised club? Not a shred of evidence backed these insinuations but a voyeuristic media lapped it all up.

But what about the facts of the case? As of now, this is what the police have on the murder:

• The postmortem report states that Aarushi and Hemraj were already dead before their throats were slit. The report says they were bludgeoned by a 4-inch thick and 8-inch long object, perhaps a khukri. Their throats were slit subsequently. "According to the Pathology of Homicide, a critical reference book for us, the kind of injuries on Aarushi is usually attributed to a crime of extreme passion," says Dr Sushil Gupta, associate professor of forensics at AIIMS, Delhi.
  
• Dr Sunil Dohere, the doctor who conducted the autopsy, had written in his report , in fact underlined that there was some discharge on Aarushi's genitalia. But his superior, Dr S.C. Singhal, told Outlook a swab test proved negative. "That usually means there was no sexual activity," he says. However, forensic experts say a negative finding could also be the result of the sample being collected in an improper manner. "What's worrying is it is mandatory for the doctor conducting the autopsy to record what has been done with the sample," one of them told Outlook. Dohere recorded no swab test in his report.
  
• There were no signs of a struggle on Hemraj's body. This clearly indicates he trusted his killers and went with them willingly to the terrace. A blow to the back of his head indicates there were possibly two or more killers. Three glasses used for consuming liquor were found in his room.
  
• A five-page report submitted by the Noida police in the local court on May 29 states that Aarushi's e-mails from her Yahoo account indicate she was very close to three boys and had a relationship with two of them at different times. She broke up with one boy in July last year and was currently close to another who lived in the neighbouring Sector 21 in Noida. Her growing intimacy with him, the police claim, was also a source of tension between Aarushi and her father. She had exchanged over 620 text messages with her current "boyfriend".

• Aarushi's friends who studied in the same class say she was "disturbed" with her parents' attitude at home. They rubbish the police claim of her being intimate with Hemraj.
  
• According to SSP A. Satish Ganesh, the murder was an "honour killing", ie that Aarushi and Hemraj were killed to protect someone's honour.

But was Dr Talwar the villain? While the police say they are convinced of his guilt, another theory suggests a new angle. According to it, Hemraj allowed some friends into the flat for drinks after the Talwars had gone to bed. Drunk, the friends went into Aarushi's room and killed her for some unknown reason. When Hemraj tried to raise an alarm, his friends took him to the terrace and bumped him off. Was there an attempt to sexually assault Aarushi? Or, did the killers react in the extreme when she questioned the presence of strangers in the house? The police are still not clear about a motive that fits this theory.

Meanwhile, stung by the all-round criticism of the Noida police and the statements of Gurdarshan Singh, UP chief minister Mayawati offered to hand over the case to the CBI. But she still defended her men, reminding the press on May 29 that "the UP police have taken serious pains in tracking the case...they also claim to have made certain startling revelations". Of course, if the CBI doesn't take up the probe, the UP police would do a fair investigation to bring the guilty to book, she declared.

As charges and counter-charges fly about between the Talwars, the administration and the police, a state of unease hangs over Noida's upscale suburbs. Evil lurks amidst the glitzy malls and luxury apartments and till the truth is out, the finger pointing will continue. Ask Aarushi's friends or their parents.