Judgement day in sensational Indian double murder trial

GHAZIABAD: A judge is due to deliver his verdict Monday on a prosperous dentist couple accused of murdering their teenage daughter and servant in a trial that has obsessed India for five years.

Rajesh and Nupur Talwar are charged with killing Aarushi, 14, and 45-year-old Nepalese employee Hemraj by slitting their throats "with clinical precision" at their home in an affluent New Delhi suburb in 2008.Investigators allege Aarushi was killed in a fit of rage when her parents found her with the servant in an "objectionable" situation, while the couple insist they are victims of police incompetence and a media witchhunt in a case that has gripped the public imagination.

"We loved Aarushi, we have no lives without her. This has been a never-ending nightmare," Rajesh Talwar told in a recent interview outside the rundown court in Ghaziabad, a city outside Delhi where the witness stand is held together by rope and monkeys romp on the roof.

Security was tight around the small court on Monday, with dozens of police standing guard, while a metal detector has been set up at the entrance ahead of the verdict expected in the next few hours.

Rajesh Talwar was attacked in 2011 just outside the court during the trial by a man with a meat cleaver, leaving his cheek and hand deeply scarred.

"There is no evidence against them so we are hoping for the best outcome," one of the defence lawyers, Manoj Shisodiya, told reporters as banks of television cameras set up outside the court complex.

The prosecution concedes there is no forensic or material evidence against the couple, basing its case on the "last-seen theory" -- which holds that the victims were last seen with the accused.