The Supreme Court has stayed till 4th February the arrest of Rajesh Talwar, who is facing trial for the murder of his 14 year old daughter Aarushi.

A bench of the apex court directed Talwar to appear before the Ghaziabad trial court on 4th February and seek regular bail.

14-year-old Aarushi, the only daughter of the Talwars, was found dead with her throat slit at the family’s Noida residence on the intervening night of 15th-16th May 2008 and the body of domestic help Hemraj was found on the terrace the next day.

The apex court had, on 6th January asked the dentist couple to face trial in the murder of Aarushi, a class nine student, and Hemraj.

The bench had said there was nothing wrong in the Ghaziabad magistrate’s order taking cognisance against them and putting them on trial as the trial judge passed the order after applying his mind.

The investigation in the case was initially carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Police which had arrested Aarushi’s father on 23rd May 2008.

The probe was subsequently handed over to the CBI on 29th May 2008 and Rajesh was granted bail by the Ghaziabad court on 11th July 2008.

The CBI after probing the murder for over two-and-half years filed its closure report in the case in the Ghaziabad special CBI court, saying it had been unable to find out any evidence to prosecute the Talwars.

The trial court, however, rejected the CBI closure report, saying there was enough prima facie material in the agency’s report to put the couple on trial for their alleged involvement in the twin murders and had issued summons to them to face trial.

The magistrate took cognisance of the case and summoned Talwars on 9th February 2011.

Rajesh and Nupur had subsequently gone to the Allahabad high court, which had dismissed their pleas to quash the trial court summons and the proceedings initiated against them.

The Talwar couple then approached the apex court which had on 19th March last year stayed the trial against them but it vacated the stay on Friday.