PATNA: Bihar's social welfare minister Kumari
Manju Verma on Wednesday resigned under intense political pressure from within the ruling National Democratic Alliance (
NDA).
She tendered her resignation after a section of media, quoting police sources, widely reported that analysis of the call detail report (CDR) of the
Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case main accused Brajesh Thakur's mobile phone has revealed that Thakur and minister's husband Chandrashekhar Verma alias Chandeshwar Verma spoke to each other over phone at least 17 times from January to June this year.
Sources said Manju Verma met CM
Nitish Kumar on Wednesday afternoon and submitted her resignation.
The political pressure on Manju Verma heightened on Wednesday forenoon after Thakur, while speaking to media from a prison van in the court compound at Muzaffarpur, publicly admitted that he used to speak to the minister's husband but it was "on political issues".
The minister was in the eye of storm ever since Shiba Kumari, wife of a jailed child protection officer, alleged that the minister's husband used to frequently visit the
Muzaffarpur shelter home (where 34 girls were allegedly raped over a period of time) and used to go to upper floor (where minor girls used to stay) by asking the accompanying officers to stay at the ground floor.
The opposition had been continuously gunning for the minister's head after allegations by the officer's wife.
Talking to reporters soon after submitting her resignation, Manju said the so-called CDR of Thakur's phone number that has been referred by media in the reports, should be brought in the public domain, so that people could know as to how many "other white-collared people" were regularly in touch with Thakur.
"My husband was innocent yesterday, he is innocent today and will be proved innocent tomorrow. But I resigned on moral grounds after media reports of the so-called CDR revealed that my husband had spoken to Brajesh Thakur 17 times," Manju Verma said.
"I make a request through you (media) to the Patna high court to bring out CDR (call details record) of Brajesh Thakur and make it clear whether my husband was the only one who was talking to him or there were other white-collared people too," she said.
She further said, necessary action should also be taken against all those whose names would figure in the CDR.
Manju Verma had earlier defended herself by maintaining that her husband had visited the shelter home only once and that too in her presence. She had also said that she was being targeted mainly because she belonged to Kushwaha caste, an agrarian community that comes under the category of other backward classes.
A two-term MLA from Cheria-Bariarpur constituency in Begusarai district since 2010, Manju Verma was minister in the NDA government from JD(U) quota.
