Rajesh Talwar and Nupur Talwar, who were acquitted of murder charges in the Aarushi Talwar-Hemraj case on Thursday, will not be released from Ghaziabad’s Dasna Jail on Friday, their lawyer Tanvir Mir told ANI.

There was speculation that the dentist couple would not be released on Friday as the court order admitting their appeal against conviction in the case has not reached the prison yet.

Dasna Jail Superintendent Dadhiram Maurya had told NDTV that a signed copy of the judgement would have to be hand-delivered at the prison. “I have never released anyone on the basis of a faxed or emailed order,” he said, “We need a hand-delivered order. The delay is not by the jail but by the court.”

Earlier in the day, Maurya had told reporters that if the order arrived before the jail closed between 7.30 pm and 8 pm, the Talwars would be released on Friday as the final formalities “take just half an hour”. However, he was doubtful that it would happen, and the couple would have to spend the weekend in jail.

On May 16, 2008, Aarushi Talwar was found murdered inside her bedroom in the Talwars’ flat in Noida. The investigation dragged on for years, first conducted by the Noida Police and then taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The Talwars had appealed against their conviction in the case after they were sentenced to life by a special CBI court in Ghaziabad in November 2013. On Thursday, the Allahabad High Court pinpointed loopholes in the CBI inquiry and said the couple cannot be convicted “based on suspicion” and circumstantial evidence.