Jodhpur, Feb 29 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday filed a supplementary charge-sheet in the case of missing nurse Bhanwari Devi, naming sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna as the mastermind behind her disappearance and subsequent murder, officials said.
The 97-page charge sheet, containing accounts of 300 witnesses and 313 documents in evidence, was filed in the court of an additional chief judicial magistrate in the afternoon.
The charge sheet claims that the Congress legislator from Luni, Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, prompted the nurse to prepare a CD showing the nurse in a compromising position with Maderna.
“Malkhan had not been given a ministerial birth in the cabinet in 2008 when the Congress came to power and that’s why the CD was prepared which became the foundation of Bhanwari’s kidnap and murder,” it saids.
The CBI has charge-sheeted Maderna, Malkhan Singh, and Malkhan Singh’s brother Parasram Bishnoi as the key conspirators while nine others Sohan Lal, Shahabuddin and Baldev Jat alias Balia, Umesha Ram, Sahi Ram Bishnoi, Bishna Ram Bishnoi, Om Prakash Bishnoi, Kailash Jakhar and Ashok Bishnoi have been named the murderers. Bhanwari’s husband Amarchand has also been booked for criminal conspiracy.
The CBI has kept investigation pending against Malkhan Singh’s sister Indra Bishnoi and three others. Indra Bishnoi, a prime suspect, is on the run and the CBI charge-sheet says that she had asked Bhanwari to prepare the CD.
Most of the accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for murder, kidnap, criminal conspiracy and causing disappearance of evidence.
The charge sheet says that Malkhan Singh through his sister Indra Bishnoi had been instrumental in getting the nurse kidnapped and murdered.
As per the chargesheet, three men — Shahabuddin, Sohan Lal and Baldev Jat alias Balia — kidnapped Bhanwari from Bilara in Jodhpur rural Sep 1, killed her and then handed over her body to a gang of criminals headed by Bishnaram who burnt the body to ashes and dumped her remains in a canal.
Bishnaram and his three accomplices Kailash Bishnoi, Omprakash Bishnoi and Umesharam Bishnoi have also been arrested by the CBI.
