New Delhi:
A day after a court in Ghaziabad issued a non-bailable warrant against her, Nupur Talwar is still untraceable. However, Mrs Talwar's lawyer Mukul Rohatgi said today that his client "is not running away and she will be present in the Supreme Court tomorrow."
Mrs Talwar, and her husband Rajesh, have been accused of murdering their 13-year-old daughter Aarushi at their Noida residence in May 2008.
The warrant for Nupur was issued after she failed to show up in the CBI court yesterday. Pursuant to the warrant, CBI officials carried out searches at her south Delhi residence, and two other places, but did not find her there. The investigating agency can arrest Nupur any time before the next hearing of the case scheduled for April 18. But to arrest her, the CBI has to trace her.
Meanwhile, through her lawyer, Nupur today moved the Supreme Court against the April 9 Allahabad High court order which suspended the 30 days protection given to her. It was based on this order that the CBI court in Ghaziabad issued the non-bailable warrant for her yesterday.
On April 9, the Allahabad High Court had suspended its March 13 order asking Nupur to appear before the Ghaziabad court within 30 days. It had also asked the trial court to "expeditiously" decide any bail application filed by her.
"She is not a fugitive and running away from justice," Mr Rohatgi said in the court today while seeking an urgent hearing of the case. "She can come to the court at 2 pm if the court takes up the case today," he added. A bench of justices AK Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar, however, refused to hear her plea and said it would be taken up tomorrow.
The lawyer for the Talwars had said in court yesterday that the couple has already appealed to the Supreme Court against the order that puts them on trial for their daughter's murder. That case will be heard on April 27 by the Supreme Court. Till that is decided, their lawyer says, the court in Ghaziabad should not issue any directions on Nupur's case.
Nupur's husband Rajesh Talwar was present in the court yesterday but refused to comment on the developments.
Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom at the Talwars' home in the Delhi suburb of Noida in May 2008. The Talwars' domestic help, Hemraj, was discovered dead on their roof a day later.
Both Rajesh and Nupur are dentists. Rajesh was arrested a week after Aarushi's death but was later released on bail when the CBI said it did not have any evidence against him. He is currently on bail.
When the CBI asked the Ghaziabad court in December 2010 if it could close the Aarushi case, the judge refused.
The CBI said it still did not have enough evidence against anyone connected to the case, but it reiterated its belief that Rajesh was responsible for his daughter's death. The court then asked for her parents to be tried for murder and destruction of evidence.