By IANS,
Jaipur: The authorities in Rajasthan have failed to auction a property of Indra Bishnoi, a Congress legislator’s sister wanted in the Bhanwari Devi kidnap and murder case as no bidder has come forward, an official said Wednesday.
Acting on a court order, the Jodhpur district administration twice put Bishnoi’s house on auction in the past two months, the latest being on Monday. However, no one participated in the bidding, the official added.
Located on a 300 sq metre plot in Jodhpur, the property has a reserve price of Rs.70 lakhs but realtors say its market value is about Rs.90 lakhs
Indra Bishnoi, sister of Luni legislator Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, is the only accused still untraced and on the run in missing nurse Bhanwari Devi’s case. She carries a cash reward of Rs.5 lakh on her head. The CBI has so far arrested 16 people, including Malkhan Singh Bishnoi and sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna.
When Indra Bishnoi failed to turn up before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning, the court ordered attachment of her properties on the agency’s application about 10 months ago.
Indra Bishnoi is believed to be close to Bhanwari Devi and allegedly involved in the conspiracy behind the nurse’s disappearance Sep 1, 2011. The CBI chargesheet says that the nurse was kidnapped and murdered as she was blackmailing Malkhan Singh Bishnoi and Mahipal Maderna on the basis of CDs showing them in a compromising position with her.
“We had invited applications from the people willing to buy Indra Bishnoi’s house situated in Saraswati Nagar colony. A couple of people approached the officials for enquiries but no one participated in the bidding held on Monday,” said a senior district administration officer.
He added that a similar auction had been held Nov 18 but it too did not attract any bidders.
Sources said that as people might be staying away from the auction owing to the fact that Indra Bishnoi belongs to a powerful political family.
According to sources close to the CBI, Mahipal Maderna and Malkhan Singh Bishnoi were hand-in-glove in the conspiracy as the nurse was blackmailing both of them.
The two politicians allegedly roped in Sahiram Bishnoi, who hired Sohan Lal, Balia and Shahabuddin for kidnapping the nurse. They kidnapped Bhanwari Devi from Bilara in Jodhpur Sep 1, 2011, killed her and then handed over her body to a gang of criminals headed by Bishnaram Bishnoi, who burnt her to ashes and dumped her remains into a canal.
A search by teams of the CBI and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) had found two guns, a gunny bag, a bat, bone fragments, a charred mobile phone, a locket, a watch, earrings and bracelet from a crater and a canal near Jaloda. Bhanwari Devi’s son Sahil had confirmed that some of the items belonged to his mother.
Maderna, Malkhan, the three kidnappers and Sahiram along with Bhanwari Devi’s husband Amarchand, have been arrested by the CBI. Amarchand is at present in judicial custody.