Main accused Brajesh Thakur being taken to a special POCSO court in Muzaffarpur on Wednesday. Protesters threw ink at Thakur while he was on his way to the court. (PTI Photo)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday released Rahul Anand, son of Brajesh Thakur, the main accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case after questioning for nearly 24 hours. The CBI team which visited the shelter home on Saturday inspected the spot and questioned Anand before detaining him.
Rahul Anand, editor of Hindi daily Pratah Kamal, was asked why his family recently sold a prime property in Muzaffarpur and about the finances of his family NGO, which has been running the shelter since 2013. The CBI team left the spot after a marathon 11 hours of inspection and questioning along with Anand.
Headed by DIG Abhay Kumar, the CBI team was flanked by a number of armed commandoes who locked the main gate of the premises from inside, preventing entry of mediapersons and a number of other curious onlookers. The CBI team, which was also accompanied by a number of forensic experts, is understood to have inspected the shelter home after getting its seal opened, and collected documents and other items it found to be of value in the investigation.
Three girls in their statements before the Muzaffarpur POCSO court had alleged that a girl had been killed and buried in the NGO campus. Muzaffarpur police, however, had not found any corroborating evidence after digging the spot identified by the three girls. The forensic report of the soil collected after the digging by the police last month is still awaited.
Thakur, who is in jail, heads the NGO Seva Sankalp Evam Vika Samiti, which ran the state-funded shelter home where sexual abuse of more than 30 inmates has been confirmed in medical tests. The Bihar government had cancelled the registration of the NGO earlier this week.