Date:23/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/23/stories/2008052360111400.htm

National

“Aarushi could be a victim of honour killing”

Staff Reporter

NOIDA: Exactly a week after Aarushi and her domestic help Hemraj were found murdered in Sector 25 here, the Noida police added a new twist to the case, saying the teenager could have been a victim of honour killing.

“We have collected ample evidence, but little progress has been made on the motive behind the murders. It could be honour killing or the consequence of extreme passionate attachment to a particular person,” Senior Superintendent of Police, Satish Ganesh told a press conference here on Thursday.

“Going by the investigations, it seems that the assailant wanted to kill only one of the two, and murdered the other also apparently for fear of his being identified. But it is difficult to say at this point in time who was killed first,” Mr. Ganesh said.

“We have made a specific request to preserve the viscera of both victims and the same has been sent for examination. The report, expected in a fortnight, would reveal whether either of them was intoxicated before the murder.”

Mr. Ganesh said the police were questioning a close friend and classmate of Aarushi. She had “interacted with the boy over 600 times through her cellphone during the past two months and he could thus help us in learning more about Aarushi as a person. He is helping us in the investigations.”

On Wednesday, Brij Lal, Additional Director-General of Police, (Law and Order), Uttar Pradesh, told reporters in Lucknow that the murders appeared to be the work of a doctor or a butcher.

“A five cm-deep wound on Aarushi’s vocal cord was found and the way the throat was slit pointed to a professional hand.”

The Noida police also interrogated Aarushi’s parentsfor over two hours on Wednesday.