Aarushi murder case: Talwars` fifth witness record

A defence witness in Aarushi murder case told CBI court that the day Aarushi was found dead, he and 3 others went to terrace of adjacent house to dump mattress, but did not notice Hemraj`s body.

Ghaziabad: A defence witness in the Aarushi murder case on Friday told the special CBI court here that the day Aarushi was found dead, he and three others went to terrace of an adjacent house to dump mattress and ice slabs, but did not notice the body of domestic help Hemraj. Vikas Sethi, Talwars` compounder and their fifth witness today deposed before the court.

Sethi said he along with clinic staff of Talwars went to terrace of Punish Raj Tandon`s house, whose house`s walls were attached with Talwars` house, to dump the mattress and ice slabs, "but didn`t see towards Rajesh`s house terrace". The compounder earlier claimed that the walls of Tandon and Rajesh`s residences were not joined, but later said that walls of terrace were joined with each other and he was not sure that there was some iron grills between two terrace or not. On the other hand, CBI lawyer RK Saini said that despite terrace walls of Tandon and Rajesh`s residence were attached to each other, it was not possible that Sethi would not have paid attention towards Talwars` house roof where Hemraj`s body had been found in a pool of blood on May 17, 2008. Sethi also said that he did not try to put mattress and ice slabs from Tandon`s house to Rajesh`s residence terrace. The witness also told the court that he had been booked in a video piracy case at Vikas Puri Police Station in Delhi and spent some days in Tihar Jail. "It is wrong to say that having criminal background, Talwars called me to clean house," added Sethi. Sethi also told the court that he had cleaned the house on police`s instruction. "A woman asked me to clean Talwars` house on the day Aarushi`s body was found, but I cannot tell about her identity as I did not know who she was. I got permission from police personnel and a lady constable present there and they allowed me to clean the house. "I also got permission from police personnel to put Aarushi`s room mattress on the terrace. One part of mattress was cut, blanket and some bedsheets were placed on it at that time," Sethi told court. Sethi said that the weight of mattress was so much that four persons could lift it. "I went towards terrace of Talwars` house and found that terrace door was locked. I did not see any blood on stairs. An old lady asked me to put the mattress and ice slabs on neighbour`s terrace. On which, I along with clinic`s staff lifted mattress and ice slabs from Talwars` house and put them on Tandon`s terrace," he said. After that he went to Aarushi`s room. There was frozen blood on wooden floor below Aarushi`s bed and there was blood stains on wall right behind her bed, said Sethi. Sethi said that he, along with the clinic staff, cleaned the frozen blood on wooden floor with water and footboard, but he didn`t clean blood stains from wall of Aarushi`s room. After cleaning wooden floor, he kept footboard in polythene and placed it near Tandon`s house terrace door. Sethi said that when he went to Talwars` house, Rajesh wore a t-shirt and half-pant while Nupur was in a suit. The compounder said that he cannot tell whether there were blood stains on their clothes at that time. Sethi told the court that his father had electronic goods shop till 2012 and he also would sit there. "It is wrong to say that Rajesh Talwar asked me to delete data of Aarushi and Hemraj`s phones. I would recharge Aarushi`s phone when Rajesh Talwar asked me to do that," said Sethi. Sethi`s statement ended today. Court fixed July 22 as next date for hearing in the case. Talwars` sixth witness Masuma Jha would record her statement on Monday. PTI