The advertisement issued by the CBI in Delhi newspapers

New Delhi, Jan. 19: The country’s top detective agency has appealed to the masses for help to crack a case that had hit the headlines last year.

Nearly eight months after it began probing the Noida twin murders of Aarushi Talwar and family domestic help Hemraj, the CBI has issued an advertisement in Delhi newspapers literally appealing to the public to hunt for clues.

With the murder weapon still eluding the sleuths, sources said the advertisement was a last-ditch attempt to find some clues to solve the case.

The murders, in May last year, are still fresh in public memory and the advertisement has not gone unnoticed. The already embarrassed agency is now the butt of jokes not only among Delhi’s residents but also among investigators in the police department.

“They don’t even know what the murder weapon looks like. A ‘sharp-edged weapon’ could be anything,” said a Delhi police officer, referring to the ad.

“They have looked into drains and every crevice near her house, what will the masses look for and where? This is the vaguest kind of ‘information wanted’ ad that I have ever seen.”

On May 16, Aarushi, the teenaged daughter of a prominent dentist couple, was found with her throat slit in her parents’ suburban Noida home.

A day later, the police found the body of Hemraj, the 45-year-old household help they had suspected earlier.

Aarushi’s father Rajesh was arrested and lie-tests conducted on him, but he was released for lack of evidence.

The agency has announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for those with information. Last September, too, the CBI had announced a similar cash award for clues, but none had called.

“It’s a shame. They, with their high-tech gadgets and supposed superior intelligence, couldn’t gather clues and they expect us to do their work for them,” smirked 23-year-old Samrat Gupta.

In December, the CBI had said the investigation in the case was complete and it would soon submit a chargesheet.

Now, the advertisement is being seen as a failure on the part of the premier agency to crack the murders.

The CBI had recently recalled one of the accused, Raj Kumar, from Nepal but failed to interrogate him when he was here. After waiting in Noida for a fortnight, Raj Kumar returned to Nepal on Thursday.