Jodhpur: The judicial custody of Congress MLA Malkhan Singh Bishnoi and four others, arrested in the Bhanwari Devi case, ends on Monday. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is expected to file its final report in the case later this week.
The CBI has jointly questioned six of the accused, including Bhanwari Devi's husband Amarchand, in Jodhpur Central Jail, to cross-check their statements on the conspiracy of abduction and elimination of the nurse.
The CBI took brothers Pukh Raj Bishnoi and Dinesh Bishnoi to the prison for the second day on Sunday where they were quizzed along with Sohan Lal Bishnoi, Sahi Ram Bishnoi, Shahabuddin and Amarchand.
They will be produced in the court on Monday.
Pukh Raj and Dinesh, who had surrendered before the CBI on Wednesday and were remanded in CBI custody till January 30, are son and nephew of one of the main accused Sohan Lal Bishnoi and were believed to be privy to the crime.
According to the charge-sheet by the CBI, Shahabuddin had seen Pukh Raj in Sohan Lal's car in Bilara with a person, who is believed to be Amarchand, whom Shahabuddin did not know.
Amarchand, before his arrest, had claimed that he did not know Shahabuddin either.
"It has surfaced in CBI's investigation that Amarchand, who also was aware of this conspiracy and made Bhanwari eave for Bilara by bus instead of her own car, was neither in Pipar as he had claimed in his FIR, nor in Borunda," according to a source.
On the other hand, CBI is now trying arrest last of the absconding accused Indra Bishnoi, sister of jailed Congress MLA Malkhan Singh.
The CBI on Sunday questioned Prahlad Bishnoi, who is also close to her and believed to have helped her to evade arrest.
Bhanwari, 36, had gone missing from Jodhpur's Bilara area on September 1 following which her husband had filed a habeas corpus petition in the High Court.
After the state government ordered a CBI probe into the case, the agency arrested sacked Rajasthan Minister Mahipal Maderna on December 3 and Congress MLA Malkhan Singh on December 19 for their alleged involvement in the case.
Maderna was removed by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot from his ministry in October after his name cropped up in the case.
During the probe, it was found that Bhanwari was allegedly abducted and killed and her body burnt at Jaloda. Her remains and belongings were later dumped in the Rajiv Gandhi Lift Canal which were recovered by the CBI.
Soon after her death, a sleaze CD was circulated allegedly featuring Maderna and Bhanwari.
Agency sources said that Maderna and Malkhan Singh were being blackmailed by Bhanwari Devi who was allegedly having relations with them and threatened to expose them which led to her killing.
According to the sources, Bhanwari had demanded Rs 50 lakh from Maderna with whom she was shown in a compromising position in a CD.
She had also threatened Malkhan Singh that she would make it public that he was the father of her youngest daughter at a Bishnoi community fair on September 7.
(With additional information from PTI)
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