Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, accused of murdering their daughter Aarushi and help Hemraaj in 2008
Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, accused of murdering their teen daughter Aarushi and their domestic help Hemraj, have lost an important legal battle.
The court handling their trial for murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence has refused their request to enlist journalist Nalini Singh as a witness.
In an interview to NDTV, Ms Singh, who runs a Nepali television channel, had said that important information furnished by her in the context of the double murder had not been formally recorded by the CBI.
The Talwars say that Aarushi and Hemraj were killed by three domestic helpers. Raj Kumar, Krishna and Vijay Mandal were arrested by the CBI in 2008 but released because there was no evidence against them.
Ms Singh said that a CBI investigator named Anuj Arya had contacted her to ask if she could provide a playlist of songs that aired on her channel on the night that Aarushi and Hemraj were killed. Ms Singh says that the officer told her that the songs she shared matched with those listed by the trio of domestic helpers during narco-analysis tests that were conducted while they were under arrest. The men allegedly said that they were listening to these songs in the Talwars' home in the room used by Hemraj, who was later murdered.
The Talwars' lawyer says that this information from Ms Singh - which could help establish that the domestic helpers often visited the Talwars' home - was never recorded.
Aarushi, 14, was found dead in her bedroom in the Talwars' apartment in the satellite town of Noida near Delhi in May 2008. Because the family's domestic help Hemraj was missing, he was declared the suspect. But hours later, he was found dead on the roof.
Last week, the CBI, wrapping up its arguments told the court that the Talwars committed the double murders using a kitchen knife and a golf club, and later dressed up the crime scene and destroyed evidence.