Anuradha murder: Witness says Noor told her she and Talla will get married

Talla allegedly had an extra-marital affair with Noor,which,according to the police,was the chief reason behind a dispute between the couple and led to the murder.

“I met Baljinder Singh Talla at Noor’s birthday party year at the Bains farmhouse in Mullanpur (a village near Chandigarh). Noor introduced Talla to me and told me that they would get married soon and settle in the US,” Saru Mahajan,who terms Noor a professional acquaintance,told the court.

During cross-examination by the defence counsel,the 26-year-old model denied that she was under the influence of the police and said she had never told anyone else before Friday that Noor told her she and Talla were getting married.

Saru’s statement assumes significance as Noor,a witness in the case,has denied having any affair with Talla.

She told the court in November last year that Talla was “just a friend” and he never proposed to marry her.

She was declared hostile by the court as her statement was in direct contrast to what she had told the police earlier.

Talla and Anuradha’s 11-year-old daughter,Osean Sandhu,has also turned hostile. She retracted from her earlier statement to the police that her parents had strained relations. She had told the police that Talla had tried to shoot Anuradha three years ago after a scuffle.

The girl had added that her mother wanted to accompany her father to a discotheque he was going to on the night of the murder. In court,however,Osean denied she ever made the statements.

The murder of Anuradha,a resident of Sector 38 West,took place on May 18 last year. Her husband Talla said he found her murdered after he returned from a discotheque.

The police accused the couple’s servant Nikku and his accomplice Ashok of murdering Anuradha,and arrested Talla for being the alleged mastermind.