Blame the Servants, Shame the Parents — The 2008 Noida Double Murders
Part 1: Crowded Crime Scenes and Closed Doors
With their larger-than-life theories in a story of two deaths, the Indian media, police, and public all had guesses as to who killed Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj Banjade. Speculation was often rooted in biases and misinformation that plagued the case from the start, the endlessly covered saga continuing the attack beyond the day of May 15, 2008.
A “locked-room mystery” full of corruption, classism, and confusing truths, the murders were dubbed “India’s JonBenet Ramsey Case” by TIME. People remembered the young Aarushi Talwar taken from the world on the cusp of 14, slain mere days before her birthday, just as they seemed to forget Banjade, a Nepali man and servant to the Talwar family.
Suspects changed constantly.
Fingers were pointed at both domestic workers and the parents.
Throughout the investigation, there seemed to be no truth, or end, in sight.
Aarushi was born on May 24, 1994 as the only child of dentist couple Dr. Rajesh Talwar and Dr. Nupur Talwar. A shy yet bubbly teenager, Aarushi appeared to have “a healthy, open relationship” with her parents, Fiza Jha, the deceased’s best friend, said to The Quint.
