Aarushi (top) and father Rajesh Talwar

New Delhi, June 1: The CBI today started a probe into the Noida double murder and formed a 25-member team to crack the case.

Aarushi Talwar, the 15-year-old daughter of a dentist couple, and household help Hemraj were killed in the family’s Noida home on May 15.

Noida police, who were handling the case so far, named Aarushi’s father Rajesh Talwar the prime suspect and arrested him.

After several controversies, the investigation was transferred to the CBI late last evening.

After re-registering the case, the CBI team visited the scene of crime and spoke to some of the relatives of the dead. They also interacted with the Noida police officers who were probing the murders earlier.

The CBI will take Rajesh’s laptop and Aarushi’s desktop computer, seized by the police, for further examination in their laboratory and try to retrieve deleted data.

The CBI team, headed by the joint director (special crime), Arun Kumar, visited the crime scene. Kumar had also headed the probe in the Rizwanur Rehman case in Calcutta.

The team in Noida was accompanied by head of the department of forensic science at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the director of the Central Forensic and Scientific laboratory.

Later, a spokesperson confirmed that the agency had registered a regular case. “On the request of the Uttar Pradesh government, the central government notification dated May 31, 2008, entrusted the investigation of case No. 695/08 under 302 IPC of police station Sector-20 of Gautam Budh Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh relating to the murder of Aarushi and Hemraj to the CBI.”

Cops shunted out

In Lucknow, chief minister Mayavati transferred the officers handling the case — IG Gurdarshan Singh, DIG P.C. Meena and Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) SSP Satish Ganesh, adds PTI. “My government does not want that the police officials connected with the case be accused of trying to botch it up and projecting their own probe as the correct one,” she said.

“I have directed the principal secretary (home) and director-general of police to provide immediately whatever help the CBI has asked for to conduct the probe.”

Gyan Singh will be the new IG, P.V. Rama Shastri the DIG and R.K. Chaturvedi the SSP.

The police are under fire for comments they made about Aarushi, with Union women and child development minister Renuka Chowdhury threatening legal action against them for maligning the dead teenager.

The Talwars, who claim Rajesh is innocent, had sought a CBI probe.