Key accused in Bhanwari case surrenders

Friday, December 23, 2011: Sahiram Bishnoi, the key suspect in the case of Rajasthan missing nurse Bhanwari Devi, surrendered before a court in Jodhpur on Friday morning, sources said.
He was remanded in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till Jan 2. Bishnoi, who carried a cash reward of
Rs 500,000 on his head for his role in the kidnapping and suspected murder of the nurse Sep 1, surrendered before the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate.
The CBI had launched a frantic search for Bishnoi when he went missing a few days after the nurse disappeared from Jodhpur rural’s Bilara area.
In a chargesheet filed in a court here earlier, the CBI had claimed that Bishnoi had got Bhanwari Devi kidnapped and possibly killed at the behest of sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna.
The nurse allegedly features in a CD showing Maderna in a compromising position with her.
The CBI had alleged in the chargesheet that she was trying to blackmail Maderna on the basis of the CD, following which the politician hired Bishnoi to kill Bhanwari Devi.
The federal investigative agency also claimed that Bishnoi then roped in Shahabuddin, Sohan Lal and Baldev Jaat alais Balia to kidnap Bhanwari.
The agency has already arrested Maderna, Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, a Congress legislator from Luni, and the three kidnappers in the case. However, Sahiram Bishnoi, a small time politician from Jodhpur considered close to Maderna, was on the run.
“He has been arrested and will be quizzed during his remand period,” a source in the CBI said.
Sources said the CBI had summoned his wife and children for questioning on Friday but they did not turn up.
A medical examination of Sahiram Bishnoi was conducted after he was produced in the court.