Jaipur:
Four months after she disappeared from near her home in Rajasthan, the CBI's search for the missing nurse Bhanwari Devi appears to have ended.
The remains of the missing midwife-nurse have been found by CBI officials. At an isolated spot in Jaloda village, her body was reportedly burnt in a 30-feet-deep pit and her remains thrown into the Rajiv Gandhi lift canal that runs close by. Bhanwari went missing on September 1 from Bhilada, nearly 200 kilometres away.
The CBI on Wednesday arrested two men who had been untraceable and allegedly played lead roles in Bhanwari's death: Bishna Ram, the gang leader and his close associate Kailash Jakhar. The gang of hitmen tried to ensure that they destroy every shred of evidence of her remains. What the CBI has now is the disclosures from those they have arrested, but it needs corroborating evidence to establish that Bhanwari met her end here.
Only a forensic report could conclusively establish whether the CBI is on the right track or not.
Bishna Ram and his gang were allegedly hired by Sahiram Vishnoi, a close aide of Mr Maderna and a leader with some clout of his own in Jodhpur. A total of 12 people have been arrested so far.
Bhanwari was allegedly killed because she was blackmailing Mahipal Maderna, a minister in the state government, with a sex CD that showed them together. She was introduced to Mr Maderna by Malkhan Singh - both men belonged to the Congress party. Mr Maderna was asked to resign from the government days after Bhanwari disappeared. Mr Singh is being put through DNA tests to determine if he fathered Bhanwari's youngest child. Bhanwari's husband, Amarchand, has also been accused of assisting her killers - he was allegedly paid off to ensure that she travelled alone on the day that she was abducted from a bus.
Sources say the killers were allegedly hired by Sahi Ram, a close aide of Mr Maderna.
So, will the discovery of her murder spot hold more clues and bring more clarity to the case?