Noida: Almost a week after 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar and the family’s domestic help Hemraj were found murdered in Sector 25 here, the Noida police on Thursday gave a new twist to the case by stating that the teenager could have been a victim of honour killing.

"We have collected ample evidence, but little progress has been made so far as the motive behind the murders is concerned. It could be honour killing or the consequence of extreme passionate attachment to a particular person," said the Senior Superintendent of Noida Police, Satish Ganesh, addressing a press conference here.

"We have decided to move the parents to a place, unknown, as a part of investigation," he added.

"Going by the investigations so far, it seems that the assailant wanted to kill only one of the two and the other was a victim of circumstances and was apparently murdered for fear of being identified. But it is difficult to say at this point of time who was killed first," he added.

The officer said the police were working on over a dozen theories and eliminating them one by one. "We are working on several conjectures and theories and no one has been given a clean chit. The moment we are able to establish the motive, the case would be cracked."

Mr. Ganesh said Aarushi’s post-mortem report had revealed the presence of semi-digested food in her intestine and it could thus be safely concluded that the teenager was murdered between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. "Unlike most such cases, we have made a specific request to preserve the viscera of both the victims and the same has been sent for examination. The report, which is expected in a fortnight, will reveal whether any of them was intoxicated before the murder," said Mr. Ganesh.

The officer admitted that the police were questioning a close friend and classmate of Aarushi to find out whether she had ever shared any of her inner conflicts with the boy. "Aarushi had interacted with the boy over 600 times through her cell phone during the past two months before the murder and he could thus help us in learning more about Aarushi as a person. He is helping us in the investigations," he said.

On Wednesday, the Additional Director-General of Uttar Pradesh Police (Law and Order), Brij Lal, had told reporters in Lucknow that the twin murders appeared to be the work of a doctor or a butcher. "A five-cm-deep wound on Aarushi’s vocal cord was found and the way the throat was slit pointed to a professional hand," Mr. Lal had said.

The Noida police also interrogated Aarushi’s parents – Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Dr. Nupur Talwar – for over two hours on Wednesday and had carried out an extensive search of their clinic a day earlier.

The questions that remain unanswered are:

Why hadn't the police searched the terrace a day before? Even the weapon used in the murder hadn't been traced.

The mattress that Arushi was found lying on was left on the terrace, to face the sun and since Sunday, the incessant rains. Why hadn't her room been sealed?

There is no clear consensus on who found the girl's body. Was it the parents, who are said to have been keeping their daughter locked at nights or is it the maid, as claimed by Arushi's father?

Source : Agencies