Holding that there is prima-facie evidence, a local court here on Thursday ordered framing of charges of murder and destruction of evidence against dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, whose daughter Aarushi, and domestic help Hemraj, were found murdered at their residence four years ago.
The court also ordered framing of an additional charge of misleading the investigations against Rajesh, who had filed a complaint at the Noida police station that his 14-year old daughter was murdered by Hemraj.
The charges would be framed formally on Friday.
The body of Hemraj was found on May 17 on the terrace of the Talwars' residence at Jalvayu Vihar, a day after Aarushi was found dead in her bedroom.
Prima-facie evidence
In his six-page order, Additional District Judge Shyam Lal said there was enough prima-facie evidence to start trial against the accused under charges of Section 302 read with Section 34 (murder with common intention) and Section 201 read with Section 34 (destruction of evidence with common intention) of the IPC.
He said Rajesh should also be charged under Section 203 of the IPC.
Citing a number of Supreme Court and High Court judgments, the judge said evidence could not be minutely examined at the stage of framing of charges.
CBI special prosecutor R.K. Saini said once the charges were framed, the court would fix a date for producing evidence.
Mr. Saini said the court had agreed with their arguments that since there were four people in the house on May 15 night and two were found dead, the onus was on the surviving members to explain what transpired on the fateful night.
The court also took cognisance of the prosecution's argument that the crime scene was dressed up by the couple and the absence of evidence of entry of an outsider showed that the crime was committed by Rajesh and Nupur.