Jodhpur:
Bhanwari Devi's 17-year-old son, Sahil, has confirmed that the watch that was found in the Rajiv Gandhi Lift Canal by a team of divers on Saturday belonged to his mother. The watch along with pieces of burnt bones, a tooth, a broken locket along with a toe ring were found from the canal after three days of scouring by divers from the Rajasthan Police.
Surprisingly, the watch was still in working condition when it was found.
The accused in the case, Om Prakash and Kailash Jakhar, who were brought to the site, earlier confessed to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that when they burnt Bhanwari's body, her watch was largely intact.
Bhanwari Devi, a nurse who lived near Jodhpur, had alleged affairs with political leaders including a former state minister, Mahipal Maderna, who has been arrested for her murder. She disappeared from near her home in September last year.
The CBI took two of the hired hitmen who allegedly played a key role in the murder and recreated the scene of the crime near the canal where the nurse's body was set on fire.
The remains were then scattered into the water in the Rajiv Gandhi Lift Canal near the village of Jaloda, 100 kilometres from Jodhpur.
On Friday, the divers found the bat that was used to crush Bhanwari Devi's skull by the hitmen. It was wrapped in barbed wire, presumably to ensure that it sank to the bottom of the canal. This will serve as crucial evidence in the case against Luni MLA Malkhan Singh and Mr Maderna, who was forced to resign as minister after Bhanwari went missing. Her liaison with him became public knowledge at that time. She was reportedly blackmailing him with a sex CD.
Both Mr Singh and Mr Maderna are from the Congress party. Mr Singh has been put through DNA tests to determine if he fathered Bhanwari's youngest child.
A Jodhpur court last week extended the judicial custody of Mr Maderna and Paras Ram Vishnoi, brother of Malkhan Singh, till January 20.