Plea in court says prime accused mentally ill
In a fresh twist to the Bhanwari Devi murder saga, the counsel for prime accused Indra Bishnoi Monday moved an application in a local court stating that his client was mentally ill and should be screened for such illness before being remanded in the CBI custody.
Farjan Ali, the counsel, also moved two other applications before the court of the Jodhpur assistant chief metropolitan magistrate --- one challenging the CBI demand for Indra’s custodyandthesecond seeking permission to meet her during the custody.
Indra was arrested Friday from Nemawar area of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh, six years after Bhanwari Devi was abducted and murdered in 2011.
Hearing the three pleas, the court called for case diary of the murder case and deferred the hearing on the applications seeking screening for mental health and challenging her custody to CBI till Tuesday.
The court, however, decided on the third application and allowed Indra’s lawyers to meet her in the CBI custody.
Earlier, Indra’s counsel contended that she was under treatment for mental illness for a long time. The CBI did not get her screened for mental illness before seeking her remand, the counsel told the court. He also contended that there was no need to send her in custody as the CBI had already filed three charge sheets and the case was sub-judice.
Special public prosecutor Ezaz Khan, however, said that custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary.
Meanwhile, during the regular trial of the murder case, the prosecution witnesses and then CBI inspector Mukesh Sharma appeared in the Special Court Monday. Sharma made his statement in the court, but couldn’t be examined by the defense counsel.
Prime accused and former Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna was also produced in the court amid heavy security. “Everything is the will of god.” This remained the constant answer to all the queries that Rajasthan Anti-terrorist Squad (ATS) members put to Indra Bishnoi on her role in the case.
Indra is the prime accused in the murder case of the auxiliary nursing mid-wife that rocked Rajasthan in 2011. The ATS arrested her Friday from Nemawar area of Dewas district in Madhya Pradesh. “Before we handed Indra Bishnoi over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), we questioned her. During the investigation, she remained very calm and composed,” said SP (ATS) Vikas Kumar.