Jodhpur:
A court here on Tuesday sent Congress legislator Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, arrested after questioning in the missing nurse case, to custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) till Dec 28. He was also suspended from the party.
The legislator was arrested on Monday night by the CBI in the case of missing nurse Bhanwari Devi, sources said.
"He (Bishnoi) was produced in an additional chief judicial magistrate court. On the CBI's request for interrogation, he was remanded to its custody till Dec 28," a police officer told
Sources said that the legislator will be quizzed for more clues about his role in Bhanwari Devi case.
He is alleged to have been close to the nurse, who is missing since Sep 1 and is feared dead.
Bishnoi was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress party a day after he was arrested.
Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee decided to take this action against the legislator on Tuesday evening.
Former minister and legislator Mahipal Maderna, who allegedly featured on a CD in a compromising position with the nurse, had also been suspended from the primary membership of Congress after his alleged role in the nurse's disappearance came up. The CBI has arrested Maderna also.
It is alleged that Bishnoi paid money to a contractor, Sohan Lal to give to Bhanwari's husband Amarchand before she disappeared.
The other accused, Amarchand, was also produced in the court. He was sent to three days CBI custody.
Bishnoi, a legislator from Luni constituency, had appeared before the CBI around 7.15 pm on Monday and after quizzing him for two hours, the CBI decided to arrest him, the source said.
He had appeared before the CBI for questioning after the agency warned him of arrest for evading interrogation for nine days.
His brother Parasram Bishnoi was arrested Dec 2 along with Maderna. The CBI also quizzed Maderna's wife Leela Maderna for about six hours.
The CBI is also trying to trace Bishnoi's sister Indra Singh Bishnoi. She was also close to the nurse and had earlier claimed that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was aware of the CD showing Maderna and the nurse in a compromising position.
In a CBI charge sheet filed before the court earlier, three men - Shahabuddin, Baliya and Sohanlal - were charged with the abduction of the nurse with an intent to kill and criminal conspiracy.
They were also booked under various sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.