Aarushi: Pathologist denies charges

The country's biggest murder mystery got a mysterious twist recently when Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the agency investigating the case, admitted that teenaged victim Aarushi Talwar's DNA samples were tampered.

While the needle of suspicion pointed towards the pathologist who worked on the case - Dr Ritcha Sexana - the bigger question has been who ordered the rigging of this crucial bit of evidence.

From doctor parents Nupur and Rajesh Talwar to domestic help or aides Vajay Mandal, Krishna and Rajkumar, eventually every suspect was let off the hook. Now 16 months after Aarushi's death, there's a new suspect in the Aarushi murder cover-up.

Sources claim that Ritcha was the one who tried to hush up the Aarushi matter by destroying evidence. She was evidently 'guided' to do so by someone influential. What makes even more suspicious about the pathologist's involvement is that Aarushi's mother Dr Nupur Talwar was treating her daughter for three years.

But here is where the case enters the realm of bizarre. Ritcha was transferred to Fatehpur and has officially been absent since January 2008. Aarushi's post-mortem was conducted on May 16, 2008 by Ritcha herself. Headlines Today has documents from the hospital that spell out the fact that Ritcha was not even present in the hospital during that period.

"There is nothing in the hospital records from April onwards that suggest that Dr Ritcha Saxena was working at the Gautam Budh Nagar district hospital on a regular basis. With reference to her own admission, Dr Saxena was on forced leave at that point of time," a senior hospital official disclosed.

The hospital has declared her an absconder.

Pathologist playing hide-and-seek

When Headlines Today tried to trace Dr Ritcha at her Noida residence her son said she had gone to Meerut. However, after sometime she surfaced to speak to Headlines Today and denied all the charges against her.

In fact, she denied the documentary evidence that shows she was not at the hospital the day Aarushi's post-mortem examination was conducted. The pathologist claimed she did examine Aarushi's samples.

"If I was absent then how could they send the slides to me? The truth is that I was always present and reporting regularly for my duty. The higher authorities know it very well that I was present at the time of examination. I even wrote to seniors about this conspiracy many times. Even the enquiry committee that was made March 31, 2008 has proven that I was present," she said.

But if she checked Aarushi's samples, Dr Ritcha was clearly in a position to tamper with the evidence. Since Dr Ritcha's daughter was a patient of Dr Nupur, a foul play on her part cannot be ruled out. The doctor however denied any wrongdoing.

"The swab slides that I examined were those that were sent to me by Dr Sunil via the chief medical superintendent Dr Singhal. There is no question of my tampering with the swab since firstly it was not taken by me and secondly it doesn't benefit me in any way. I don't have any motive in tampering with the swab," Dr Ritcha claimed.