File photo: Dr Rajesh and Nupur Talwar outside a court
Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, accused of murdering their teen daughter Aarushi and their domestic help Hemraj, will today make final arguments in their defence.
The dentist couple being tried for murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence maintain that the CBI tampered with the evidence in the case to implicate them.
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 month, the CBI, wrapping up its arguments told the CBI court in Ghaziabad 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.
The Talwars have raised several contradictions in the CBI's case against them, and have alleged that the investigating agency ignored vital clues that pointed towards three other suspects who were arrested in 2008 but released for the lack of evidence.
The Talwars allege that Aarushi and Hemraj were killed by three domestic helpers. Raj Kumar, Krishna and Vijay Mandal. The court refused their request to enlist journalist Nalini Singh as a witness to support this contention.
In an interview to NDTV, Ms Singh, who runs a Nepali TV channel, had said that important information furnished by her, which could help establish that the domestic helps often visited the Talwars' home - was never recorded.