On the first day of its turn to submit the final arguments in Aarushi-Hemraj double murder case, the accused parents of Aarushi, Dr Rajesh and Nupur Talwar submitted an application to summon Nalini Singh, a television journalist who runs a Nepali TV channel and Anuj Arya, the deputy superintendent of CBI as witnesses to record their statement before the trial court of CBI special judge S lal.
lawyer Manoj Shishodia appearing for the couple said during a narco test conducted on three servants — Rajkumar (domestic help of Talwars family friends), Krishna Thadarai (Rajesh’s compounder), and Vijay Mandal (domestic help of one of the neighbours) — they had confessed to having enjoyed a drink in Hemraj’s room and listened to Nepali songs on a private television channel. To confirm their claim, CBI Deputy SP Anuj Arya contacted Nalini Singh and sought a list of the songs telecast on her channel.
The songs were corroborated with the claim but the agency never put on record despite the servants’ claim and their corroboration on record. The CBI officer claimed to call Nalini Singh as a witness but recanted. Recently after the CBI concluded its final arguments, Nalini Singh, on October 14, 2013, during a television debate on a private news channel claimed before the other participants — former CBI director RK Raghavan, KTS Tulsi and Shoma Chaudhary — that although CBI informed her to be called as witness, the agency never called her despite having received substantial evidence of songs. Anuj Arya received the CD pertaining to the songs.
“We have enclosed the CD along with our application and have requested the court to summon Nalini Singh and Anuj Arya because the timing of the songs being telecast on TV was the same as claimed by servants during the narcoanalysis," said the lawyer. The CBI judge adjourned the court for October 23, 2013 to decide the defence prayer.
Earlier the final arguments began after effort was made by the Talwars to delay it for want of evidence — forensic tests of servants be placed on record before final arguments take place. Should the court summon Singh and Arya, their statements will raise serious doubts on the CBI’s case that only four people were present in the house on the night the crime was committed.