The Allahabad High Court has acquitted the dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar and quashed their conviction in the 2008 murder of their teenage daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices A.K. Mishra and B.K. Narayana, gave the benefit of doubt in favour of the Talwars saying a person cannot be held guilty on the basis of suspicion.
The couple were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special CBI court in Ghaziabad in November 2013.
They were also convicted of the destruction of evidence with common intent, while Rajesh was additionally convicted of giving a false statement to the police.
Aarushi Talwar, 14, was found dead with her throat slit in her bedroom in flat no. L-32 Jalvayu Vihar in Noida in the morning of May 16, 2008. The body of Hemraj, who was initially suspected of her murder, was found in a pool of blood on the terrace of the flat the following day. The door of the terrace was found locked from inside.
The case was handed over to the CBI after the Noida police were criticised for a botched up investigation, leading to the loss of crucial forensic evidence.
