A new team of the Central Bureau of Investigation probing the murder of 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar and her domestic help Hemraj has submitted an application to the court of special judicial magistrate, CBI court, Preeti Singh, seeking permission to conduct narco tests on her parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar.

“We have submitted the application three days ago and have contacted the Talwars for their cooperation to undergo the tests,” said Suresh Batra, the CBI counsel. The court has reserved its decision for tomorrow.

This comes 18 months after the CBI told a Ghaziabad court that the agency had no evidence against Rajesh Talwar.

Satish Tamta, a senior lawyer defending the Talwars, said the CBI has not given any strong reason to seek permission. “The CBI has said that all accused in the Aarushi-Hemraj murders have undergone narco tests, it is only the Talwars who were exempted. This is the only reason they have given so far. The Talwars have already given their consent for the test,” said the Tamta.

Rajesh and Nupur Talwar alleged that the CBI had “verbally” asked for their consent. “The CBI officials called us two weeks ago and asked us to take the narco test. We sent them an email giving our consent to take the test when our lawyers told us that the CBI is not authorised to conduct the test unless it gets permission from court,” said Nupur Talwar.

The move, sources in the agency told The Indian Express, is aimed at getting “fresh leads” in the high-profile case. Incidentally, the CBI had conducted polygraph (lie) detector tests on both Talwar and his wife as well as their brain-mapping and psycho-analysis tests. The agency had also conducted narco tests on other suspects Rajkumar, Vijay Mandal and Krishna — all domestic helps.

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