NEW DELHI – Indian police have closed a probe into the murder of a schoolgirl and her domestic helper in 2008, admitting detectives had failed to solve a crime that transfixed the nation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said Wednesday it did not have “sufficient evidence to nail anyone” for the deaths of 13-year-old Aarushi Talwar and the male servant in Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi. Indian police standards were again under the spotlight after hundreds of detectives were involved in a 31-month investigation during which the victim’s father, a dentist, was detained for 90 days and then released. Aarushi’s body was found in her bedroom on May 16, 2008. She had been hit over the head and her throat slit.
Police initially named a domestic servant as the prime suspect before his body was found on the house’s terrace 24 hours after the killing, also with his throat cut. No murder weapon was ever found. Aarushi’s father, Rajesh Talwar, was discovered to be having an affair, and his mistress was questioned by police, as were Aarushi’s mother and several family friends and business associates.
Before being removed from the case, local police in Noida suggested Aarushi was killed for discovering her father’s affair or for sleeping with the servant. “It is unthinkable that her killer or killers should go unpunished,” her classmate Rajeshwari Sahay told AFP, vowing to hold public protests campaigning for the police to re-open the case.
Her parents have also pledged to continue their fight for justice. Police in India are regularly criticised for botched investigations, inefficiency and corruption.
