Bhanwari Devi was kidnapped and brutally murdered in Rajasthan Prime accused in her murder, then Congress minister Mahipal Maderna, was sacked from the cabinet Indra Bishnoi is the latest to be arrested in the sensational case

The sensational abduction and murder of Bhanwari Devi that had attracted national headlines found a new twist when the alleged conspirator Indra Bishnoi told the court - on Saturday - that Bhanwari Devi was "alive" and "is in Bengaluru". Although, the court and the investigative agencies did not take her statement seriously, it did raise several eyebrows in the court hall.

Nearly after six years of being on-the-run, Indra Bishnoi - said to be the conspirator in the murder of Bhanwari Devi - was arrested from Mandhya Pradesh, last week. She supported her claims by stating that the bones that were recovered from a canal have not yet been established that they were of Bhanwari Devi.

Bishnoi's arrest has once again put the focus on the brutal kidnap and murder of Bhanwari Devi, a nurse. In this backdrop, here's a quick recap of the story that rocked Rajasthan's Congress government headed by Ashok Gehlot then.

Bhanwari Devi was auxiliary nurse midwife at Jaliwada village, 120 km from Jodhpur. It is alleged Indra had allegedly convinced Bhanwari Devi to record a sex CD with Congress minister Mahipal Maderna. This way she would be able to disgrace Maderna and pitch her brother Malkhan Singh for the minister's post. But the things went murkier when Malkhan Singh stole the CD from Devi's house and allegedly distributed copies among journalists, reports NDTV.

There have been several reports that Bhanwari Devi had an illicit relation with Malkhan Singh - before she was introduced to Maderna - and he was the father of her two daughters. While Malkhan, a Congress leader, never acknowledged this, furious Bhanwari Devi threatened to expose this at a community gathering. At the same time, Maderna was being blackmailed for the CD too. Things went out of control, and Bhanwari was allegedly abducted from Jodhpur's Bilara area on September 1, 2011 and allegedly murdered. Her body was handed over to another gang which burnt it in a limestone quarry and dumped the remains in a canal, it is alleged, reports The Indian Express.

The case saw the two political families - Bishnoi and Maderna - that was destroyed after her death. Maderna was sacked by Ashok Gehlot after he refused to quit. He and Malkhan Singh are currently lodged in  a Jodhpur jail. Along with them 14 other people have also been arrested with the case. Prominent among them were Sohanlal and Shahabuddin who were allegedly hired to kidnap Bhanwari Devi from a bus and kill her. Also, Maderna's close associate Sahi Ram has also been charge sheeted.

While it has been 16 years since the case rocked Rajasthan, it has been a tough life for the children of Bhanwari Devi. Her two daughters and a son reportedly survive on the meagre pension that their 70-year-old grandmother Pooni Devi gets.

According to NDTV, the eldest, 18-year-old Sahil has discontinued his education as he has to frequent courts and police stations in connection with his mother's case. Bhanwari's 15-year-old daughter Ashwini has been rusticated from school and the youngest daughter Suhani is reportedly entangled in a paternity suit.