Bhanwari case: Court denies CBI request for FBI expert’s deposition through video conferencing
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Bhanwari Devi.
Jaipur: A Jodhpur court has turned down the CBI’s request to allow an expert of USA’s investigation agency – Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – to record her statement before the court through video conferencing in the infamous Bhanwari Devi kidnap and murder case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had submitted an application to the court requesting it to allow the expert’s deposition through video conferencing.
The CBI sent the bones recovered from Rajiv Gandhi Link Canal in Jodhpur to the FBI for a forensic examination. The FBI experts concluded that some of the bones recovered from the canal belonged to a human.
The agency then listed the FBI expert as a prosecution witness in the case and requested the court to allow her to record her statement through video conferencing.
The defense lawyers objected to this.
The court heard arguments from both sides and on Wednesday turned down the CBI’s application.
The CBI teams had recovered these bones from the canal in January, 2012, nearly four months after Bhanwari, an auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANM), went missing from Jodhpur. She disappeared on September 1, 2011 after a CD allegedly showing her in a compromising position with then senior Congress leader and MLA Mahipal Maderna was circulated in the political circle.
The CBI had recovered several items form the canal, including a gunny bag, wrist watch, toe ring, nose pin, broken pieces of jewellery (including a pendant), charred bone pieces, five teeth, wooden bat and two country-made pistols apart from some clothes (which reportedly belong to accused Kailash Jakhar), during a four-day search in the Rajiv Gandhi Link Canal.
The FBI prepared a report in June, 2012 and confirmed that some of the bones belonged to a human being.
The CBI arrested 16 people including Maderna and another Congress party legislator Malkhan Bishnoi, in connection with the murder and kidnap of Bhanwari.
The latest arrest was that of Indira Bishnoi, the sister of Malkhan Bishnoi. Indira had been on the run for six years and was found living as a destitute with a family on the banks of Narmada near Dewas in Madhya Pradesh in June this year. She was carrying a cash reward of Rs 5 lakh.
Related stories:
Bhanwari Devi murder: Kingpin Indira Bishnoi arrested from Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas
Indira Bishnoi arrest: Changes in her appearance kept ATS guessing for 2 months
