New Delhi, Feb 21: The Supreme Court Tuesday asked the CBI to file its reply on the plea by Rajesh and Nupur Talwar seeking a transfer of the trial in their daughter Aarushi's 2008 murder from a Ghaziabad special CBI court to New Delhi.

The apex court bench headed by Justice B.S. Chauhan has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to file its reply on the Talwars' plea contending that most of the witnesses in the case resided in the capital and also faced threats in Ghaziabad.

Justice Chauhan asked Additional Solicitor General Harin Rawal what his substantive objection to the plea was. 

Asking the CBI to file its reply by Thursday, the court directed the listing of the matter Feb 27. The court also allowed the state of Uttar Pradesh - where Ghaziabad is located - to file its reply to the transfer plea.

Aarushi, a Class 8 student of Delhi Public School, was found with her throat slit in her bedroom at her parents' Noida apartment May 16, 2008. The family's domestic help Hemraj, whom police initially thought to be the prime suspect, was also found killed on the apartment's terrace a day later.