Bhanwari dead, CBI tells court

Says it has evidence of the nurse murdered and burnt

Making it abundantly clear that at least two Congress leaders allegedly conspired to kill a Rajasthan auxiliary nurse midwife, the CBI on Monday told the Rajasthan High Court that the habeas corpus case was no longer valid since the 36-year-old woman was murdered and her body burnt.

The investigating agency claimed it had corroborative evidence to support the murder theory and would file a charge sheet in court soon against the remaining accused persons involved in the case. The CBI has already filed a charge sheet against three persons.

Appearing for the CBI before a division bench of the Rajasthan High Court, Additional Advocate General Anand Purohit requested the court to quash the habeas corpus petition filed by Bhanwari’s husband Amarchand Nat to trace his missing wife, as it was no longer relevant.  

This is the first time the investigating agency has officially acknowledged the killing of Bhanwari Devi. But the court refused to quash the petition, asking the CBI to file the charge sheet and its final report on February 21.

Purohit told the court that the CBI was investigating the case under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC and was on a hunt for four absconding persons, Indra Bishnoi, Ashok Bishnoi, Pukh Raj Bishnoi and Dinesh Bishnoi. “After their arrest, the CBI will file the charge sheet,” he said.

Divers last week found Bhanwari's wrist watch, pieces of burnt bones, a tooth, a broken locket and a toe ring from the Rajiv Gandhi canal at Jaloda where her body was disposed of after it was burnt.

Amarchand, who filed a habeas corpus petition seeking tracing of the missing nurse, has since been accused of assisting her killers for money and is under arrest.

The murder case is being heard separately by a Special CBI court in Jodhpur.  Bhanwari Devi allegedly had affairs with political leaders, including Congress MLA Malkhan Singh and former minister Mahipal Maderna, who was forced to resign after she went missing and her liaison with him became public.

She was reportedly blackmailing him with a sex CD. Maderna and Malkhan Singh are under arrest. The search is on for Indira Bishnoi.