Receiving political threats in Bhanwari case: CBI

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday told the Rajasthan high court that it was receiving threats and its witnesses in the Bhanwari Devi case were being forced to turn hostile.

Agency counsel Panne Singh, during the hearing of the habeas corpus petition filed by Amarchand, husband of Bhanwari Devi, told the court that the CBI has conducted a fair investigation in this case, in which many influential politicians were involved.

"Out of the 17 accused, 16 have been arrested and one is absconding, attempts to arrest whom are going on. But the CBI is constantly under pressure because of the involvement of high-profile persons and the witnesses are also being threatened, thereby affecting the investigation," Singh said in a statement before the court.

Some key witnesses have also gone missing due to this pressure, he added.

The division bench comprising Justice Govind Mathur and Justice K C Joshi asked him to submit an affidavit in the court and deferred the hearing till February 27.

Before this, Additional Advocate General Anand Purohit urged the court to declare the petition in fructuous.

But in absence of the charge-sheet and written submission confirming that corpus is no more, the court refused to grant the plea of the AAG.

The agency had told the court in the previous hearing in January that midwife Bhanwari Devi is no more and requested the court to quash the habeas corpus petition filed by Amarchand.

The court refused to quash the petition and asked the CBI to produce the final report on February 21.