JOIN USCBI, Police pitch together to aid Bhanwari's children
In a rare gesture, CBI and police officers of two states have contributed to the family of Bhanwari Devi a total of Rs 1.5 lakh out of the prize money they got for cracking the case of the murder of the auxiliary midwife nurse (ANM).
The assistance was announced at a first-of-its-kind ceremony at the CBI headquarters to felicitate police teams from Rajasthan and Maharashtra that helped CBI to investigate the case. Bhanwari Devi’s family is dependent solely on the old-age pension of her mother-in-law.
The teams of Rajasthan Police led by IG, Jodhpur Range Umesh Mishra, Maharashtra Police led by Joint Commissioner Sanjiv Kumar Singhal were invited to the CBI headquarters where they were handed over reward of Rs four lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively for their assistance in the probe.
CBI officials voluntarily contributed Rs 50,000 to the family while Rajasthan and Maharashtra Police paid Rs 80,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively from their reward money.The reward was announced for the absconding accused Bisna Ram who is alleged to have disposed of 36-year old Bhanwari Devi's body.
On a tip-off from the CBI, Pune police acted swiftly and nabbed him from an industrial warehouse in Lonavala, CBI DIG Ashok Tiwari said.
CBI Director A P Singh said the idea of the function was that in special crimes the central agency has to work with the state police in close coordination. "I will not give credit to CBI team only. The credit goes in equal measure to Rajasthan Police and Pune Police who helped us in arresting a very important criminal," he said.
A Hollywood thriller
Singh said the Bhanwari Devi murder case has all the elements of Hollywood thriller Sex, Lies and Videotapes.
"I have not seen that movie but in this particular case you have blackmail, you have politicians, you have got kidnapping, you have got murder so it has all the ingredients of a thriller," Singh said. CBI cracked the case with the arrest of Bishna Ram and recovery of Bhanwari's body parts and belongings from the Indira Canal in Jodhpur.The agency is on the look out for Indira Bishnoi, an alleged co-conspirator and sister of Congress MLA Malkhan Singh, agency sources.
They said sacked Rajasthan Minister Mahipal Maderna and Malkhan Singh were being blackmailed by Bhanwari Devi who was allegedly having relations with them and threatened to expose them which allegedly led to her killing.