Jaloda, Rajasthan:
Scouring the canal for three days where the remains of Bhanwari Devi were dumped, the police divers have today managed to find crucial evidence in the case. Pieces of burnt bones, a tooth, a broken locket, a toe ring and a watch have been recovered from the Rajiv Gandhi Lift Canal near Jodhpur.
The accused in the case, Om Prakash and Kailash Jakhar, who were brought to the site, earlier confessed to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that when they burnt Bhanwari's body, her watch was largely intact. The CBI today also brought Bishna Ram, another accused in the case, at the canal.
Yesterday, Rajasthan police divers found the bat that was used to crush Bhanwari Devi's skull by the men who were hired to kill her. They also found a bag with two country-made pistols.
A nurse who lived near Jodhpur, Bhanwari had a penchant for affairs with political leaders. Two politicians including a former minister have been arrested for her murder. She disappeared from near her home in September last year.
The CBI took two of the hired hitmen who allegedly played a key role in the murder and recreated the scene of the crime near the canal where the nurse's body was set on fire.
The remains were then scattered into the water in the Rajiv Gandhi Lift Canal near the village of Jaloda, 100 kilometres from Jodhpur. Divers in the canal, to which water supply has been stopped to enable investigators to find evidence, found the bat that was used to smash her skull.
It was wrapped in barbed wire, presumably to ensure that it sank to the bottom of the canal. This will serve as crucial evidence in the case against Luni MLA Malkhan Singh and Mahipal Maderna, who was forced to resign as minister after Bhanwari went missing. Her liaison with him became public knowledge at that time. She was reportedly blackmailing him with a sex CD.
Both Mr Singh and Mr Maderna are from the Congress party. Mr Singh has been put through DNA tests to determine if he fathered Bhanwari's youngest child.
A Jodhpur court yesterday extended the judicial custody of Mr Maderna and Paras Ram Vishnoi, brother of Malkhan Singh, till January 20.