Jodhpur, Jan 7: In a major breakthrough, the CBI has found a watch of missing nurse Bhanwari Devi in a canal near here, a crucial evidence which corroborates the statement of an accused who claimed that she was strangulated and the body later burnt before her last remains were dumped in the canal.
Besides the watch, beads of a necklace belonging to the 36-year-old woman were also recovered by the agency team, CBI sources said.
The agency is expecting to get more evidences, including her body remains, from the canal to aid in its probe, they said.
Two country-made pistols and a wooden bat were recovered yesterday from the Rajiv Gandhi Canal in Jaloda village, about 150 km from Jodhpur. The Rajasthan government has stopped water supply to the canal to enable CBI to locate the remains of the nurse.
The agency sleuths are also examining soil samples from the spot near the canal for evidences.
A Central Scientific Forensic Laboratory (CSFL) team is accompanying the CBI in collecting evidence. They will ascertain whether the articles recovered have any connection with the case, the sources said.
CBI Director A P Singh and Additional Director Salim Ali, accompanied by forensic experts, had visited the spot earlier this week where the nurse was allegedly burnt after being kidnapped.
The remains of Bhanwari were allegedly dumped by accused Bishna Ram and Kailash Jakhar in the canal. The CBI took both the accused, who allegedly played a key role in disposing off the body, to the spot and recreated the scene of the crime.
Bishna Ram was arrested by police from Pune on January 4 and brought here on a transit remand, whereas Jakhar was nabbed from Jodhpur-Ajmer road a day before.
“A wrist watch, some pieces of bones and a few articles, including a ring and a locket, were recovered from the canal. It is subject to verification whether the articles were of Bhanwari Devi,” a police official said.
The recovery was made by a joint team of police and CBI. Kailash Jakhar, an accused in the case, had told CBI that he and his accomplice Bishnaram Bishnoi were handed over Bhanwari's body on September 1, 2011 after which they burnt it in a crater near Jaloda and threw the remains in the canal.
CBI officials said they will bring Bishnaram at the spot in Jaloda village, about 150 km from Jodhpur, for verification of these articles.
The divers had yesterday recovered a wooden bat, a poly bag containing two country made revolvers, a few bangles and bone pieces from the canal.
A team of Central Forensic Science Laboratory had yesterday sent the ashes collected from the site, where the body was allegedly burnt, to New Delhi for a DNA test to ascertain if they were the remains of Bhanwari, while a CBI court extended the custody of sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna, arrested for his alleged role in her disappearance.
Bhanwari had gone missing on September 1, 2011 after a CD allegedly showing her in a compromising position with Maderna was circulated in the political circle.
