Aarushi case: Talwar aide claims CBI official pressured him

New Delhi: The controversy over the investigation in the Aarushi Talwar double murder case took a new turn with the surfacing of a video of a purported narco test being conducted on a discharged accused who claimed that a top CBI official had put pressure on him to own up the crime.

An hour-long video that had surfaced yesterday on social media website Youtube shows Krishna, Aarushi's father Rajesh Talwar's assistant, purportedly saying that the then CBI joint director Arun Kumar asked him to own up the crime on the promise of getting his sentence reduced.

The plea of the now-convicted dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, parents of Aarushi, demanding videos of narco tests, conducted on servants, was struck down by the Supreme Court on the grounds that they were not an admissible piece of evidence.

"I will never run from here. Why will I run? I have not committed any crime. I had told them first time when they had asked me to take allegations on myself," Krishna, who used to assist Rajesh in his clinic, is seen telling the doctor.

When the doctor asks him who had asked him to take allegations on himself, Krishna says IG saab.

When further probed as to who asked him to take allegations on himself, Krishna says,"IG Kumar" and also pleads that please don't say in front of him.

Joint Director Arun Kumar, a 1985-batch IPS officer, led the probe of the first team of CBI but its findings allegedly implicating servants-Krishna, Rajkumar and Vijay Mondal-- in the murders were dismissed by Director CBI Ashwani Kumar.

When contacted, Arun Kumar, now Inspector General of CRPF, Patna said the video concerned was not from an authentic source.

Asked whether he feels it could have been doctored, Kumar said he cannot comment on that.

"It was shown on TV channels. I need not see that. Original narco is not there. What you are seeing is not original. It is not original. It is not from authentic source. Please get the CD from the lab or the CBI or from the accused persons whom it is authentically given. It's (these allegations) not there in original CD," Kumar told PTI over phone.

To a question whether he meant that the video was doctored, Kumar said,"That I do not want to say. That I do not want to comment. This is not the authentic one. This is not from the authentic source".

After the trial, Ghaziabad court found Rajesh and Nupur Talwar guilty of killing their 14-year old daughter Aarushi and domestic servant Hemraj on the intervening night of May 15-16, 2008 and sentenced them to life imprisonment.