The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday brought sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna, arrested in Bhanwari Devi abduction case, to Delhi for further questioning.
Mr Maderna, 59, was arrested on Friday in Jodhpur by the CBI along with Parasram Bishnoi, the brother of Congress MLA Malkhan Singh, hours after it filed the chargesheet against three other arrested accused. Mr Maderna has been remanded to CBI custody till December 9 by a Jodhpur court.
According to CBI sources, Mr Maderna was shifted to the capital for questioning as some CBI officials had claimed on Saturday that they were being threatened. Further, a large number of Mr Maderna’s supporters had gathered outside the court where he was being produced on Saturday.
“Maderna’s presence in Jodhpur will have compromised his safety and that of the CBI team present there. So it was decided to shift him to Delhi as long as he is in our custody,” a CBI official remarked.
The CBI has also lodged a complaint with the police about the threatening phone call one of its officers received. Even Mr Parasram Bishnoi, another accused in the case and brother of Congress MLA Malkhan Singh, was also shifted from the Circuit House in Jodhpur where he was being held in CBI custody for questioning.
Bhanwari, posted as an auxiliary nurse midwife at a sub-centre in Jaliwada village went missing on September 1 after a CD allegedly showing Mr Maderna in a compromising position with her was circulated in political circles.
On the other hand, there is still no information on the whereabouts of Indra Bishnoi, sister of Malkhan Singh Bishnoi and a key witness in the Bhanwari Devi case.
Mr Maderna, who represents Osian Assembly constituency, was sacked from the Cabinet on October 16 by chief minister Ashok Gehlot after his name came up in the case.
Mr Maderna’s family claimed dragging him into the Bhanwari case was a political conspiracy, a charge which was refuted by the state Congress chief Dr Chandarbhan.