Bhanwari case: 'A saga of sex, lies and videotapes'

Bhanwari Devi murder case has all the elements of Hollywood thriller "Sex, Lies and Videotapes", Central Bureau of Investigation Director A P Singh said on Friday as he felicitated teams of Rajasthan and Maharashtra Police for their help in cracking the case.

In a first of its kind ceremony, the teams of Rajasthan Police led by IG, Jodhpur Range Umesh Mishra, Maharashtra Police led by Joint Commissioner Sanjiv Kumar Singhal were invited to the CBI headquarters where they were handed over reward of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively for their assistance in the probe.

An assistance of Rs 1.5 Lakh was also announced for Bhanwari Devi's family which is only dependent on old-age pension of mother-in-law of the auxiliary nurse who was strangulated on September 1.

CBI officials have voluntarily contributed Rs 50,000 to family's aid while Rajasthan and Maharashtra Police have followed suit by extending Rs 80,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively from their reward money.

The reward was announced for the absconding accused Bisna

Ram who is alleged to have disposed of 36-year old Bhanwari Devi's body.

On a tip-off from the CBI, Pune police acted swiftly and nabbed him from an industrial warehouse in Lonavala, CBI DIG Ashok Tiwari said.

"There was a movie few years back 'sex lies and videotapes'. I have not seen that movie but in this particular case you have blackmail, you have politicians, you have got kidnapping, you have got murder so it has all the ingredients of a thriller," Singh said.

CBI cracked the case with the arrest of Bishna Ram and recovery of Bhanwari's body parts and belongings from the Indira Canal in Jodhpur.

The agency is on the look out for Indira Bishnoi, an alleged co-conspirator and sister of Congress MLA Malkhan Singh, agency sources said.

They said sacked Rajasthan Minister Mahipal Maderna and Malkhan Singh were being blackmailed by Bhanwari Devi who was allegedly having relations with them and threatened to expose them which allegedly led to her killing.

According to the sources, Bhanwari had demanded Rs 50 lakh from Maderna with whom she was shown in a compromising position in a CD.

She had also threatened Malkhan Singh that she would make it public that he was the father of her youngest daughter at a Bishnoi community fair on September 7.

The CBI director said this case was executed by three different sets of people -- the master mind which included some politicians, the killers and the person who disposed the body which made it difficult to solve.

The CBI director said the idea of this function was that in special crimes the central agency has to work with the state police in close coordination.

"I will not give credit to CBI team only. The credit goes in equal measure to Rajasthan Police and Pune Police who helped us in arresting a very important criminal," he said.

Sources in the CBI said it is planning to file a charge sheet in the case by the month end. Besides Indira, other accused Pukhraj, Ashok and Dinesh are also absconding.

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