Bhanwari killing: Accused husband retracts statement

Rajasthan nurse Bhanwari Devi’s husband Amarchand, arrested on charges of conspiring to abduct her last year, Tuesday retracted his statement made before a magistrate here, sources said.

The development came as a setback for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which, in a chargesheet filed in a court earlier, said that Amarchand was involved in the conspiracy of Bhanwari Devi’s kidnap from Jodhpur’s Bilara area Sep 1, 2011.

The CBI says she was later killed.

Amarchand moved an application in the court of an additional chief judicial magistrate and alleged that the CBI threatened him to get his statement recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure – which makes it admissible as evidence.

Four other accused who were arrested in the case have already turned hostile after recording their statements before a magistrate.

“The CBI had recorded Amarchand’s statement under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in January to confirm that he was involved in the conspiracy,” sources close to the CBI told IANS.

“He moved an application in the court on Tuesday requesting that his statement should not be read during trial,” the sources said.

Amarchand had tried to escape quizzing by the CBI sleuths in Jodhpur Dec 7 last year, a day before he was arrested.

He claimed his wife had been kidnapped at the behest of sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna, who allegedly featured in a CD showing the two in a compromising position.

Maderna was arrested in Jodhpur Dec 3 last year and Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, Congress legislator from Luni constituency, was taken into custody Dec 19, 2011.

Mahipal, Maderna and 11 other accused were presented in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate Tuesday which extended their judicial custody till March 27.

It was alleged that Maderna and Malkhan Singh Bishnoi and Bishnoi’s sister Indra Bishnoi had hired people to eliminate Bhanwari Devi.

It was alleged that three kidnappers — Shahabuddin, Sohan Lal and Baldev Jat alias Balia — kidnapped Bhanwari from Bilara Sep 1, killed her and handed her body to a gang of criminals headed by Bishnaram Bishnoi who burnt her to ashes and dumped her remains in a canal.