Bhanwari Devi case: Ashes sent to Delhi for DNA test

[1]

A team of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) on Friday sent ashes collected from a site in Jodhpur to New Delhi for a DNA test to ascertain if they were the remains of Rajasthan nurse Bhanwari Devi, sources said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and a CFSL team reportedly collected the ashes and some bones from Jaloda village in Jodhpur rural area where missing nurse Bhanwari Devi's body was allegedly brunt by a gang of criminals led by Bishnaram Bishnoi on September 1.

A court here on Thursday remanded Bishnaram Bishnoi and his aide Kailash Jakhar to CBI custody till January 16.

Bishnaram Bishnoi was arrested near Pune in Maharashtra on Wednesday while Kailash Jakhar, believed to be the owner of a jeep used to dispose the body, was nabbed in Rajasthan on Tuesday.

The CSFL team arrived in Jodhpur on Thursday along with CBI director A.P. Singh after the investigators on Wednesday identified the spot where the nurse's body was allegedly disposed after her abduction on September 1.

It is alleged that Bhanwari was brunt and her remains were then dumped in a nearby canal.

The forensic team has collected some ashes believed to be the remains of the nurse, sources added. The canal was also being examined by divers.

The CBI had taken Omprakash Bishnoi, an arrested accused, to a place near Jaloda village where the nurse's body was reportedly burnt.

The case has seen the arrest of sascked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna and Congress legislator from Luni constituency Malkhan Singh.

In a chargesheet filed by the CBI, it was alleged that three men kidnapped the nurse from Jodhpur's Bilara area on September 1, killed her and then handed over her body Bishnaram Bishnoi.

According to sources close to the CBI, Maderna and Malkhan Singh were hand-in-glove in the conspiracy as the nurse was blackmailing both of them.

Maderna was believed to be blackmailed on the basis of a CD showing him in a compromising position with the nurse.

The two politicians allegedly roped in Sahiram Bishnoi, who hired Sohan Lal, Balia and Shahabuddin for the task of kidnapping the nurse.

Maderna, Malkhan Singh, the three kidnappers and Sahiram along with Amarchand, husband of Bhanwari Devi, have been arrested by the CBI.

The CBI also arrested Malkhan's brother Parasram Bishnoi as well as two others - Umesharam and Omprakash Bishnoi.