Talwars will walk free from Dasna jail Monday

Ghaziabad: The dentist couple, Nupur and Rajesh Talwar, who have been acquitted in the 2008 murder case of their teenage daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, will be released from Dasna jail on Monday as the Allahabad high court verdict didn’t reach the jail authorities on Friday. Also tomorrow being second Saturday, prisoners are not released on holidays.

Dasna jail superintendent Dadhiram Maurya said that the dentist couple would be released only after authorities receive the court verdict. He said, “The jail closes at 7.30 pm. They will now be released on Monday because the couple is unable to furnish a surety under 437 section of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). It is a second Saturday and court is closed and next day is Sunday. Therefore, the couple will be released only on Monday.”

Mr Maurya said as per Section 437 (a) of the CrPC, even after their acquittal, the Talwars will have to furnish a surety to ensure that they are present in court in case the state files an appeal in a higher court. Jail sources said that  the dentist couple looked quite relaxed after the high court ordered their acquittal. “They were allowed to meet on Thursday evening just after the news of their acquittal was flashed on TV channels. They met and talked to each other and went back to their respective barracks,” a senior official told this newspaper.

Unlike any other day, Rajesh attended around 40 patients at his clinic inside the jail. He usually used to attend 15-20 patients everyday. During morning, Rajesh read all English dailies. But Nupur spent her day in a crèche she is running for children of women inmates.

Later, many women inmates went to meet her and seek legal guidance to secure bail.

“Nupur usually spends most of her time in prayers and rest of the time she teaches children in a creche,” the official added.

It is learnt that Rajesh earns Rs 40 a day for treating dental patients in the jail. Another officer said: “This works out about Rs 1,200 a month. His wife Nupur too is paid Rs 40 a day for teaching women and children. The  couple is also given remuneration for their job.

The duo start working from 10 am to 5 pm every day except on Sundays. The entire sum of their remuneration will be handed over to them when they are released from jail.”

All through the day, a large crowd of mediapersons camped outside Dasna Jail from early morning, keeping a close watch on every movement in and out of the high-security prison that had housed Rajesh and Nupur Talwar for four years.

The dental couple’s L-32 Jalvayu Vihar residence in Noida, where their 14-year-old daughter Aarushi was found dead in 2008, has been taken on rent by another family.

Since Thursday, the family has been dodging reporters and the media spotlight that have returned to the flat after Rajesh and Nupur Talwar were acquitted by the high court in the double murder case.

Persistent reporters assembled outside the house from 7 am just in case the Talwars returned to their home after their release from Dasna jail. Scribes intermittently pressed the buzzer seeking permission to shoot the inside the house but the door remained steadfastly shut.