Aarushi murder: This is how the case was destroyed

NEW DELHI: The morning of May 17, 2008, was particularly hot when I visited the Aarushi crime scene+ , formerly known as the Talwars' residence, to recreate for TOI an axonometric infographic that would give readers an idea of the crime scene.

The house was easy to locate. TV broadcast vans lined the approach road like beacons, and crowds of onlookers eagerly pinpointed the spot. The courtyard and the stairs leading to the flat and its roof were both jam-packed with curious neighbours and media people battling for space.



I pulled out my press card, ready to convince the cops that they should give me access to the murder scene. But to my surprise, the area had not been cordoned off. In fact, there weren't enough cops to stop the swelling horde from invading the house where the evidence was waiting to be picked up.

I went in quite unchallenged. The first thing I noticed was that the main door had a grille that was locked. One of the many people standing around told me in a conspiratorial tone that I should go to the roof.

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"Bahut khoon pada hai chhat pe,'' he said. The stairs leading to the roof had traces of dried blood, obviously from the night before. The rush of people going up had stepped over them. I would have been very surprised had anyone, especially the police, not noticed them — they were that glaring.

The roof was a ghastly stage: there was blood everywhere. I remember seeing bloodied footprints and even a handprint on the wall. Whose could it have been? Hanging in the air was a mild stench of death.

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A junked desert cooler kept there still had water in its tank. Horribly, that water was red, as if someone had washed hands in it after the killings. The adjoining roof was bare, except for a bloodied mattress and sheet — another crucial bit of evidence lying unattended.

After making my notes and sketches, I made my way back to our office thinking that it would be easy for the police to nab the killers. That was five years ago.

(Neelabh Banerjee is a former TOI employee)