else was Rajesh Talwar? He was a golfer, of course.
The Talwars’ practice was flourishing, and one of the markers of a successful professional in middle-class India is membership of a golf club. Dr Talwar was a novice, but he did own a set of golf clubs—or, as the CBI preferred to call them, golf sticks. The head of a golf club is, of course, heavy and blunt.
In July 2008, the Talwars’ driver Umesh Sharma had given investigators a detailed statement about what he recalled in the days leading up to the murder and its immediate aftermath. Umesh had said that two golf clubs were always in Dr Talwar’s Hyundai Santro, and that four or five months before the incident, when he took the car for servicing, he had removed the clubs and several other items from the boot. All these things, he said, he had kept in Hemraj’s room.
In the first pictures that the police took of Hemraj’s room, however, only one golf club could be seen. That the room was in a mess at the time, with the police force turning everything over, and that the other club may simply have been out of the frame, was not something Kaul wanted to consider. He and Dahiya had found their heavy, blunt object.
On 13 October, Dahiya was formally asked to write his crime scene reconstruction report. He sent it in on 26 October. It is marked ‘Document 79’ and is the defining document of the case. Three days after Dahiya’s report, the CBI demanded that the Talwars hand over Rajesh’s golf kit. They did so readily, on 30 October 2009.
Going through the record, a pattern seemed to emerge of the roles of Kaul and Dahiya.
25 Sept 2009: The CBI requests the CFSL for the services not of ‘a scientist’, but of Dahiya.
30 Sept: Dohare modifies his statement to say the vagina was wide open and the cervix was clearly visible, implying that there had been sexual intercourse which someone had tried to erase evidence of. The statements of two sweepers are taken, who also attest to vaginal dilation.
9 Oct: Dahiya is taken to the crime scene, where he does his mental reconstruction. Afterwards, he has detailed discussions with Kaul in his office.
12 Oct: Naresh Raj submits a report in which he says the slit across the throat was caused by a surgical instrument.
13 Oct: CBI sends a formal questionnaire to Dahiya.
26 Oct: Dahiya files his report.
***
The prosecution relied heavily on Document 79. This could be summed up in four words: father, doctor, golfer, murderer. This was the prosecution’s case in the trial court in June 2012.
Dahiya’s document is a masterpiece in several ways. It reveals things about Dahiya the man. Two of his traits he shared with Kaul. The first was the belief that before you even start investigations, you must get a story in place; the facts could be made to follow. The second was the ability to be the authority on subjects that were clearly beyond his area of expertise. A third, more complex, facet of Dahiya’s personality also came through. His belief systems—rooted in the culture of North India’s Jats.
The Jats governed by their khap panchayats are widely regarded as a conservative community engaging in honour killing. Does everyone in the community believe in these practices? Certainly not. But is it easier for them to believe that others might kill for honour? Most likely, yes.
In Document 79, it is possible that Dahiya was projecting a belief system, a moral code, on to the Talwar family. A colleague of Dahiya’s at FSL Gandhinagar told me that he was ‘unable to shake that aspect off and think beyond. This is who he is.’ Here is Dahiya on ‘honour’ and ‘psychology’:
All these circumstances indicate the possibility of someone interested in the honour of the deceased girl and/or her family being active on this count. As far as human psychology is concerned, finding one’s adolescent daughter in the company of a domestic servant at the dead of night in her bedroom is a grave provocation that can lead to
The Talwars’ practice was flourishing, and one of the markers of a successful professional in middle-class India is membership of a golf club. Dr Talwar was a novice, but he did own a set of golf clubs—or, as the CBI preferred to call them, golf sticks. The head of a golf club is, of course, heavy and blunt.
In July 2008, the Talwars’ driver Umesh Sharma had given investigators a detailed statement about what he recalled in the days leading up to the murder and its immediate aftermath. Umesh had said that two golf clubs were always in Dr Talwar’s Hyundai Santro, and that four or five months before the incident, when he took the car for servicing, he had removed the clubs and several other items from the boot. All these things, he said, he had kept in Hemraj’s room.
In the first pictures that the police took of Hemraj’s room, however, only one golf club could be seen. That the room was in a mess at the time, with the police force turning everything over, and that the other club may simply have been out of the frame, was not something Kaul wanted to consider. He and Dahiya had found their heavy, blunt object.
On 13 October, Dahiya was formally asked to write his crime scene reconstruction report. He sent it in on 26 October. It is marked ‘Document 79’ and is the defining document of the case. Three days after Dahiya’s report, the CBI demanded that the Talwars hand over Rajesh’s golf kit. They did so readily, on 30 October 2009.
Going through the record, a pattern seemed to emerge of the roles of Kaul and Dahiya.
25 Sept 2009: The CBI requests the CFSL for the services not of ‘a scientist’, but of Dahiya.
30 Sept: Dohare modifies his statement to say the vagina was wide open and the cervix was clearly visible, implying that there had been sexual intercourse which someone had tried to erase evidence of. The statements of two sweepers are taken, who also attest to vaginal dilation.
9 Oct: Dahiya is taken to the crime scene, where he does his mental reconstruction. Afterwards, he has detailed discussions with Kaul in his office.
12 Oct: Naresh Raj submits a report in which he says the slit across the throat was caused by a surgical instrument.
13 Oct: CBI sends a formal questionnaire to Dahiya.
26 Oct: Dahiya files his report.
***
The prosecution relied heavily on Document 79. This could be summed up in four words: father, doctor, golfer, murderer. This was the prosecution’s case in the trial court in June 2012.
Dahiya’s document is a masterpiece in several ways. It reveals things about Dahiya the man. Two of his traits he shared with Kaul. The first was the belief that before you even start investigations, you must get a story in place; the facts could be made to follow. The second was the ability to be the authority on subjects that were clearly beyond his area of expertise. A third, more complex, facet of Dahiya’s personality also came through. His belief systems—rooted in the culture of North India’s Jats.
The Jats governed by their khap panchayats are widely regarded as a conservative community engaging in honour killing. Does everyone in the community believe in these practices? Certainly not. But is it easier for them to believe that others might kill for honour? Most likely, yes.
In Document 79, it is possible that Dahiya was projecting a belief system, a moral code, on to the Talwar family. A colleague of Dahiya’s at FSL Gandhinagar told me that he was ‘unable to shake that aspect off and think beyond. This is who he is.’ Here is Dahiya on ‘honour’ and ‘psychology’:
All these circumstances indicate the possibility of someone interested in the honour of the deceased girl and/or her family being active on this count. As far as human psychology is concerned, finding one’s adolescent daughter in the company of a domestic servant at the dead of night in her bedroom is a grave provocation that can lead to
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