Ghaziabad, Aug 8 (IANS) A court here Friday extended by another 14 days the judicial custody of Krishna, Raj Kumar Sharma and Vijay Mandal, accused of murdering Noida teenager Aarushi Talwar and the family’s domestic help Hemraj. In the absence of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judicial magistrate Sapna Mishra, the arguments in the case were heard by the court of Link Magistrate Abhitam who extended their custody till Aug 21.

The defence for the three accused pleaded that the CBI was falsely implicating them in the case without having any evidence.

CBI prosecutor R.K. Saini then said that the custody of the three was vital for the investigations into the case and that they be remanded into judicial custody.

Even as the hearing was under process, Vijay Mandal broke into tears and defence lawyer Sanjay Tyagi pleaded that the court hear him out. The judge then ordered that all others leave the court barring Mandal.

The link magistrate heard Mandal for about 10 minutes during which he is said to have told him that the CBI was compelling him to accept his involvement in the case and forcing him to sign certain papers, court sources said. He also said that the CBI had called his family from Bihar and questioned them July 15.

Aarushi was found murdered in her parents’ upscale Jal Vayu Vihar apartment in Noida May 16. The Noida police immediately named the family’s domestic help Hemraj as the prime suspect but retracted when his body was found on the roof of the apartment the next day.

The police arrested Aarushi’s father Rajesh Talwar May 23, saying he killed his daughter in a fit of rage because he objected to her closeness with Hemraj. Talwar was released July 11 after 50 days of imprisonment, with the CBI saying there was no evidence to link him to the crime.

The CBI took over the case June 1 after a public hue and cry over the shoddy manner in which the Noida police had conducted the investigations.