Accused ’to demand compensation

GHAZIABAD/NOIDA: The lawyers of Krishna and Rajkumar, once the prime accused in the case of the murder of Aarushi Talwar, who had each to spend 90 days in captivity, much of it in the custody of the CBI, have decided to move the Allahabad High Court to seek compensation for the CBI allegedly framing the duo.
The lawyers on Wednesday decided to do this after the CBI filed a closure report in the case of the murder of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar, which occurred on the night of May 15, 2008, in her bedroom of her family’s flat, L-32 , Sector 25, Noida.She was the only child of Doctors Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, dentists practising in Noida and Delhi.
According to FC Sharma, who had earlier represented Krishna, a former compounder working for the Talwars, “Krishna was framed by the CBI, possibly in an attempt to shield somebody big. He was tortured in custody, and his photograph was carried in every major newspaper and the electronic media. He never got a job again. In fact, his brother-in-law , Bhim Bahadur, and brother, Mohan Lal, also lost their jobs, thanks to the stigma that came to be attached to the falsely implicated man. The entire family was ruined. And, it was only the steadfastness of a retired air force officer, who gave them a place to stay in despite the ignominy, that the family somehow survived the ordeal.”
Naresh Yadav, counsel for Rajkumar, who also remained 90 days in police and judicial custody, said, “My stand has been vindicated. I had always said the poor were being framed, possibly to save someone big. My client remained in jail as long as the CBI could possibly keep him, without ever filing a charge sheet. Now, who will compensate for the captivity and the torture in custody of Rajkumar?” Rajkumar had lost his job as a domestic help with a doctor couple in Noida, after he was arrested. He never got a job again and went back to his native place in Kapilvastu, Nepal.
There, to increase his job prospects, despite his “dark past” due to the CBI and the media, Rajkumar enrolled for and completed his 10+2. But, according to Yadav, “the boy has still not got a decent job anywhere.” Meanwhile, Anil Mandal , the third domestic help arrested by the CBI after the Aarushi murder, has since his release been living with his parents in Bihar. Now, said a relative, he has got a paltry job in Delhi.