A man, accused in the Bhanwari Devi murder case, escaped from the police custody after a shoot-out between his accomplices and policemen at a court in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur city Thursday. Another accused was re-captured.

The accused, Kailash Jhakhar, had been brought to the district and sessions court for a hearing of another case related to some land deals few years back, they added.

Jakhar is accused of disposing the remains of nurse Bhanwari Devi who was abducted and then murdered Sep 1 last year at the alleged behest of sacked state minister Mahipal Maderna and Congress legislator Malkhan Singh Bishnoi.

The Central Bureawu of Investigation (CBI) had arrested Maderna and Bishnoi in the case. It is alleged that Maderna and Bishnoi were being blackmailed by the nurse on the basis of sex CDs showing them in a compromising position with the nurse.

“Some undertrials including two Bhanwari Devi murder case accused – Bishna Ram Bishnoi and Jhakhar – had been brought to the court for hearing in another case related to firing. Jhakhar is a member of Bishna Ram Bisnnoi’s gang,” a police officer told IANS.

He added that a ground of about a dozen criminals was already inside the court premises.
“They were armed. As soon as Jhakar and Bishna Ram got off the police vehicle, the criminals opened fire in the air to scare away the policemen. While Jakhar and all the attackers managed to escape, Bishnoi was caught on the spot,” said the officer.

Officials said that a massive search operation has been launched to locate Jakhar.
Bhanwari Devi had allegedly been kidnapped by three men – Shahabuddin, Baldev Jat alias Balia and Sohan Lal. As per the CBI chargesheet filed in a court, the trio murdered the nurse and then handed over her body to Bishna Ram Bishnoi and Jakhar who brunt her to ashes and dumped her remains in a canal in Jodhpur.