The Supreme Court on Friday admitted a CBI plea against the acquittal of doctor-couple Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar in the murder of their daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, and issued a notice to them.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi, while agreeing to hear the central probe agency’s plea against the dentist couple’s acquittal, sought a response from them.

It tagged the Central Bureau of Investigation plea with the petititon of Hemraj’s wife who also challenged the acquittal.

The CBI had approached the Supreme Court on October 12, 2017, against the Allahabad High Court order of acquittal.

The high court had acquitted the couple by giving them the benefit of doubt.

Aarushi, 14, and Hemraj, were found murdered at their Jal Vayu Vihar home in Noida on May 16, 2008.

The high court’s order came on an appeal by the Talwars against a Ghaziabad CBI court judgement that handed them life imprisonment on November 26, 2013.

After Aarushi was found murdered in her bedroom, Hemraj was initially considered a suspect. However, his body too, was discovered a day later in a pool of blood on the terrace of the house.

The high court, while acquitting the Talwar couple, had made comments on the CBI trial court presiding officer, saying he had adopted a “partial and parochial approach” in his 2013 judgment to convict the parents for the double murder.

The court had said that the trial court’s judgment was based on the “creation of fanciful reasoning” and “presuming facts with indomitable obstinacy and taking things for granted, and thus basing the conclusion on unfounded evidence”.

The Uttar Pradesh Police had accused Rajesh Talwar of killing his daughter in a fit of rage. Rajesh Talwar was arrested on May 23, 2008.

On May 31, 2008, the CBI tookover the case and initially absolved the parents but later held them responsible for the two murders.

On June 13, 2008, Rajesh Talwar’s compounder Krishna was arrested by the CBI. Ten days later, Raj Kumar, a servant of a doctor friend of the Talwars, and Vijay Mandal, the domestic help of the Talwars’ neighbour, were also arrested.

The three were later freed after no evidence was found against them.

The Jharkhand High Court on Friday extended the provisional bail of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Chief Lalu Yadav till August 20.

According to a lawyer, the provisional bail period was ending on August 17 but Lalu Yadav’s lawyers moved the High Court seeking a further three-month extension. The next hearing will take place on August 17.

Lalu Yadav was granted six weeks provisional bail for treatment in May, which was later extended by the High Court.

He was in Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Central Jail after being convicted in December 2017 in a fodder scam case.

He was also convicted in two other cases in January and March 2018 and was awarded 14 years imprisonment.

In 2013, he was convicted in the first fodder scam case and sentenced to jail for five years.

The multi-million fodder scam had surfaced in the 1990s when Lalu Yadav was Bihar’s Chief Minister. At the directive of Patna High Court, the probe was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has nabbed a right-wing activist of the Hindu Janjagran Samiti (HJS) and recovered some explosive materials from his home in Palghar early on Friday, an official said.

The activist has been identified as Vaibhav Raut. Earlier it was suspected that he was a Sanatan Sanstha activist, also a right-wing group.

The arrest followed an early morning raid in the Nala Sopara town. The ATS used a dog squad to swoop down on the Hindu group member.

The ATS has recovered some bomb-making material, including detonators, explosive powder and incriminating material during the raid at his home and shop in Bhandarali area of Nala Sopara.

The motives behind the explosives found with him are not clear and Raut has been taken from Palghar to Mumbai where he will be produced before a court later in the day.

Decrying the arrest of “a devout Hindu” as “Malegaon 2” the HJS has said Raut is an active Gau-Rakshak (Cow protector) of the Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti.

“He used to participate in agitations and programmes for uniting Hindu organisations under the aegis of the HJS,” said Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh HJS Organiser Sunil Ghanvat.

However, he had not taken part in any programmes since the past few months, the HJS chief added.

“The incidents of needless harassment of Hindu orgnisations’ activists and implicating them in false cases are not new. It was amply proved through the Malegaon (2008 blasts) case and arrests of many innocent Sanatan Sanstha activists,” Ghanvat said.

He was referring to the arrests of several leading Hindu functioneries, including Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur and others, during the investigations into the Malegaon blasts in a Muslim locality killing seven and injuring over 80.

Earlier on Friday, Raut’s lawyer Sanjeev Punhalekar had also informed the media that Raut was not a Sanatan Sanstha activist and his name was being deliberately linked to defame the organisation.

A man running a training centre and a hostel for hearing and speech impaired girls and women has been arrested on charges of rape and inappropriate behaviour, police said on Friday.

Accused Ashwani Sharma runs the training centre in Awadhpuri here, for which he gets government grants. He also runs a hostel ‘Kritarth’, where young women undergoing training are offered board and lodging facility.

The crime came to light when a speech and hearing impaired victim narrated her ordeal to her family, which lodged a complaint with Dhar and Indore police. A zero FIR was registered and sent to Awadhpuri police staion in Bhopal.

“One girl of Dhar and two of Indore too have lodged complaints against Ashwani, who has been arested. A probe is on,” Bhopal Inspector General of Police, Jaideep Prasad told IANS.

The victim from Dhar alleged that the accused raped her many times while she was staying at the hostel for nearly a year to train in stitching and embroidery.