Jaipur:
Four months after she disappeared from near her home in Rajasthan, the remains of Bhanwari Devi have been found by CBI officials. The nurse was allegedly strangled a few hours after she was abducted by a gang for hire on September 1. Sources say that the nurse was burnt near Jaloda village, about 100 km from Jodhpur. Her ashes were allegedly flung into the nearby Rajasthan canal.
Today's developments come after the CBI 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. A total of 12 people have been arrested so far, among them two Congress leaders who had both been involved with her.
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.
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. But investigators are so far not revealing whether the nurse's murder was commissioned by Mr Maderna or Mr Singh.