Injury on Aarushi's forehead could have left her unconscious, says forensic department

Deposing before the CBI court for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in the Aarushi case, R K Sharma, former head of AIIMS forensic science department, said the injury on Aarushi's forehead, as shown in her postmortem report, could have left her unconscious.

"The injury could have led to heavy bleeding, following which the victim (Aarushi) could have fallen unconscious and thus, could not scream," Sharma said in his statement to the court.  Sharma, the fourth witness from the side of dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, also told Additional Sessions' Judge Shyam Lal that scalpel number 10 could not have been used in the crime as the throat cannot be slit in one stroke using the same.

"Aarushi's throat could not have been slit using one stroke of scalpel number 10. Its handle is weak and can crack if pressure is put on it," Sharma said. The CBI has maintained that Aarushi's throat was slit using a scalpel.  Sharma had told the court on Monday that there was a possibility that deep cut on the teenager and the domestic help Hemraj's throats could have been inflicted with a 'Khukri' (Nepalese knife).

He further said on Tuesday that presence of semi-digested food in Aarushi's stomach indicated that her murder could have taken place 5-6 hours after she took her dinner.  Sharma will be cross-examined by the CBI lawyers on Wednesday.

CBI probe officer AGL Kaul, who headed the investigation, had told the court that after hitting Aarushi on her forehead with a golf stick, the dentist couple checked her pulse and found her near dead.  The nervous couple then planned that the servant Hemraj, who was also injured by Rajesh, should also be killed so that no one comes to know about the incident, Kaul had told the court.