Jodhpur : The CBI has initiated the legal process to auction the properties of Indra Bishnoi, a Congress legislator s sister, wanted to stand trial in Bhanwari Devi kidnap and murder case, sources said here Friday. Indra, the sister of Luni legislator Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, is the only accused still untraced and on the run in the missing nurse Bhanwari Devi s case.

The CBI has so far arrested 16 people, including Congress legislator Malkhan Singh and sacked Rajasathan minister Mahipal Maderna. When Indra Bishnoi failed to turn up before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning, the court ordered attachment of her properties on the agency s application about six months ago.

"The CBI has moved an application in the court of the upper chief judicial magistrate requesting it to order auction of her properties as she has not turned up for questioning even after repeated notices posted at her residence by the investigating agency," sources close the central investigating agency said.

The application was filed Thursday. The Jodhpur district administration in February this year had submitted to the court a report on the seized properties belonging to Indra worth about Rs.3 crore. It is believed Indra was close to Bhanwari Devi and was involved in the conspiracy behind the nurse s disappearance Sep 1, 2011. "Indra remains the only major suspect who is on the run in Bhanwari Devi case. Indra has been summoned for questioning several times over the one year, but she did not turn up," a source in the CBI told IANS.

It is alleged that three kidnappers - Shahabuddin, Sohan Lal and Baldev Jat alias Balia - kidnapped Bhanwari from Bilara in Jodhpur Sep 1 last year, killed her and then handed over her body to a gang of criminals headed by Bishnaram Bishnoi, who burnt her to ashes and dumped her remains into a canal.

A search by teams of the CBI and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) had found two guns, a gunny bag, a bat and some bone fragments, a charred mobile phone, a locket, a watch, earrings and bracelet from a crater and a canal near Jaloda. Bhanwari s son Sahil had confirmed that some of the items belonged to his mother. Bhanwari Devi was allegedly shown in a compromising position with sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna in a CD.

According to sources close to the CBI, Maderna and Malkhan Singh were hand-in-glove in the entire conspiracy as the nurse was blackmailing both of them. Both have been arrested. The two politicians allegedly roped in Sahiram Bishnoi, who hired Sohan Lal, Balia and Shahabuddin for the task of kidnapping the nurse. Maderna, Malkhan, the three kidnappers and Sahiram along with Bhanwari Devi s husband Amarchand, have been arrested by the CBI.

Amarchand is at present in judicial custody. The CBI also arrested Malkhan s brother Parasram Bishnoi and two others - Umesh Ram and Omprakash Bishnoi.