More than a year after teenager Arushi Talwar was found murdered in her Noida home, the Supreme Court on Tuesday sought to know progress in the case from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating the case.

Arushi and the Tawar family’s domestic help Hemraj were found murdered on May 16 and 17, respectively, last year. Hearing a PIL filed by advocate Surat Singh seeking directions to be issued to the media about covering the twin-murder case, the Bench of Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph asked, “What has happened to the case? What is the progress?”

But neither Singh, who had filed the petition, nor Arushi’s father Rajesh Talwar’s counsel could reply to the court’s query.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for CBI, then intervened and informed the court that the agency would submit a status report on progress in the investigations.

The Noida police had arrested Rajesh Talwar for the double murder before CBI took over the case and gave the doctor a clean chit.

In his PIL, Singh sought directions from the apex court to protect the family’s reputation. He alleges the media and Noida police maligned Talwar’s reputation. He has also sought action against the police for keeping Talwar in custody for 50 days.

On July 22, 2008, the apex court had directed the media to exercise caution while reporting the case.