Ghaziabad, Sep 3 (IANS) CBI witness and part-time maid Bharti Mandal told a special court here Monday that she found the main gate of murdered teenager Aarushi Talwar's flat locked from the outside on the day her killing was detected.
After several knocks on the gate in the morning, the murdered teenager's mother Nupur Talwar woke up and gave her a duplicate key for the lock on the gate, Mandal told Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge S. Lal.
Mandal said that she told Nupur Talwar that their domestic help Hemraj was not responding to her knocks.
The part-time maid said that on entering the house she found Aarushi's father Rajesh Talwar and his wife grieving over their daughter's murder.
During their cries, they were saying that Hemraj had done it and fled, Mandal said, claiming that she then left the spot.
After Mandal's testimony, the defence lawyer said that they did not want to cross-examine her.
Aarushi, 14, was found murdered at her parents' Noida residence May 16, 2008. The body of Hemraj was found the next day on the terrace of the house.
On a defence plea, the court directed the probe agency to disclose in advance the name of the witness they intended to present in court.
Aarushi parents are accused in the double-murder.
Nupur Talwar was taken into custody April 30 and she challenged in the apex court the May 31 Allahabad High Court order rejecting her bail plea. She is lodged in Dasna jail in Ghaziabad. Her husband is out on bail.
