Dentist Rajesh Talwar, a co- accused in the murder of his teenaged daughter Aarushi, on Monday claimed he was asleep on the night of the crime, refuting charges by CBI that recurrent internet activity from his room indicated he was awake.
Talwar’s statement is being recorded under Section 313 of CrPC where special CBI Judge Shyam Lal put forth questions directly to him giving him a chance to explain circumstances and evidence against him. Rajesh’s wife is a co-accused in the twin murders of Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj.
Lal posed 223 questions before Talwar during the two-and-a-half hour long hearing carried out in two sessions here. With Monday’s proceedings, Talwar has answered 411 questions put forth by the judge.
The judge asked about the recurrent Internet activity recorded from his router on the night of May 15, 2008 when the murders took place to which he replied he was asleep after 11.30 pm and did not use internet, Talwar’s lawyer Manoj Sisodia told reporters.
CBI had claimed he had used the internet at regular intervals which show he was awake and knew about happenings in Aarushi’s room. “He also disagreed with the findings of Dr Sunil Dohre who carried out post-mortem of Aarushi Talwar wherein he had claimed that her throat was slit using a sharp edged weapon like a scalpel,” Sisodia said. He also rejected claims made by the forensic expert Dr Naresh Raj who had claimed before the court that swollen private parts of Hemraj indicated that the he was having sex or about to indulge in it just before his death. The agency had presented an Airtel executive as its witness to buttress its claim that internet activity was recorded on May 15 which belies Talwars’ claim that he was asleep. Summarising events in the court room, where media is barred from entering, Sisodia said court was informed by his client that claims made by forensic expert were not part of post-mortem report submitted by him. “Dr Talwar told the court that Dr Raj had given the statement under pressure from CBI,” Sisodia said. In his statement as prosecution witness, Raj had claimed that he had not formed any opinion about swollen parts of Hemraj’s body.