The accused were charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, and destruction of evidence. The Aftermath and Current Status
On September 1, 2011, Bhanwari Devi went missing after leaving her home to meet an associate. Her husband, Amarchand, alleged that she had been kidnapped on the orders of Minister Mahipal Maderna.
, which involved a different social worker and led to the historic Vishakha Guidelines on sexual harassment.
The phrase references one of India’s most high-profile political and criminal scandals, which shook the state of Rajasthan in 2011 . The case exposed a dark intersection of political leverage, blackmail, and violent crime, culminating in the abduction and murder of an auxiliary nurse midwife, Bhanwari Devi .
Mahipal Maderna and another accused, Congress leader Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, were convicted by a special CBI court [1].
Bhanwari Devi was a 36-year-old auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) based in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. She went missing in September 2011. The subsequent investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) uncovered a complex web of blackmail and extortion involving top-tier politicians.
Bhanwari Devi was a Dalit woman employed as an ANM at a sub-center in Jaliwara village, Jodhpur. Ambition and local connections allowed her to navigate the upper echelons of Rajasthan’s political circle, particularly the influential Bishnoi and Maderna families.
Forensic teams found charred bones and jewelry belonging to Bhanwari in the Kaylana Canal near Jodhpur.
The controversy began with reports of a "sex CD" allegedly showing Rajasthan's then-Water Resources Minister, Mahipal Maderna , in a compromising position with Bhanwari Devi.
On , the case exploded into the public domain when a 48-minute video CD was broadcast on regional news channels. The timing was dramatic: a news channel began airing blurred clips from the alleged CD while the CBI was questioning Mahipal Maderna in Jodhpur. The channel claimed to have sent copies of the CD to both the CBI director and the Rajasthan High Court. The explicit nature of the CD sparked a media frenzy and heaped immense pressure on the state government.