Thaindian News

Jodhpur, Feb 4 (IANS) A court here Saturday remanded two accused arrested in connection with the disappearance of nurse Bhanwari Devi to judicial custody for 14 days, while the CBI custody of another accused was extended till Feb 6, officials said.

Three accused - Pukhraj Bishnoi, Dinesh Bishnoi and Reshmaram Bishnoi - were presented in court of an additional chief judicial magistrate after completion of their Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) remand.

“While Pukhraj and Dinesh were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days, Reshmaram’s CBI custody was extended till Feb 6,” a police official told IANS.

“Reshmaram, a government teacher, was close to Indra Bishnoi, the sister of accused Congress legislator Malkhan Singh Bishnoi. Indra is absconding and the CBI will further quiz Reshmaram to ascertain her whereabouts,” he said.

Pukhraj, Dinesh and Reshmaram were arrested by the CBI for their alleged role in the kidnap of nurse Bhanwari Devi Sep 1.

The protest against the alleged harassment of a Congress legislator’s 80-year-old mother by the CBI in the name of interrogation intensified as people of Bishnoi community in Rajasthan proposed a mass meeting in Jodhpur Feb 7 to launch an agitation.

Amari Devi is the mother of legislator Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, who has been arrested by the CBI. She is the wife of late Ram Singh Bishnoi, a prominent leaders of the Bishnoi community.

She was hospitalised Thursday morning after she appeared before the CBI for questioning at the Circuit House here Tuesday and Wednesday. She is undergoing treatment at hospital.

Her family members alleged that she was harassed by the investigating agency during interrogation.

“A meeting of thousands of people from the Bishnoi community is being planned Feb 7 to prepare a strategy for an agitation,” said Ram Singh, a representative of a Bishnoi community organisation.

It is alleged that three men Shahabuddin, Sohan Lal and Baldev Jat alias Balia kidnapped Bhanwari Devi from Bilara in Jodhpur rural Sep 1, killed her and then handed her body to a gang of criminals headed by Bishnaram Bishnoi who burnt her 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. Bhanwari Devi, shown in a compromising position with former Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna in a CD, had gone missing Sep 1 last year.

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

Bishnaram Bishnoi and his three accomplices, including Kailash Bishnoi, Omprakash Bishnoi and Umesharam Bishnoi, have also been arrested by the CBI.

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

Amarchand is at present in judicial custody. The CBI also arrested Malkhan’s brother Parasram Bishnoi.