Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse: Police conduct raids across Bihar

A day after the Supreme Court asked the Bihar Police to investigate former minister Manju Verma and her husband Chandrashekhar Verma in connection with the recovery of huge quantity of ammunition from their house, the Begusarai police on Friday conducted raids across the state armed with an arrest warrant.

Manju, who has been representing Cheria-Bariarpur assembly constituency on a JD (U) ticket since 2010, had to resign as Bihar social welfare minister in the wake of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case where several women were allegedly raped over time. Probe had revealed that her husband had spoken to prime accused in the case, Brajesh Thakur, 17 times between January and June.

“We raided their house a couple of times, but the former minister’s husband has so far evaded arrest,” said Begusarai superintendent of police (SP) Aditya Kumar. He said the police had also prayed to the court for permission to attach their property.

“A four-member team, headed by deputy superintendent of police Suryadeo Kumar, was constituted to carry out raids across Bihar after obtaining an arrest warrant order from the court against Chandrashekhar Verma,” the SP said.

An FIR was registered against Verma and her husband under the Arms Act in August following the recovery of 50 cartridges from the Begusarai residence, owned by the former minister’s in-laws, during a CBI raid in the case.

Since then, the CBI has raided nearly 12 places in four districts of Bihar, including residences of Verma in Patna. The live cartridges recovered from the former minister’s residence are of different firearms. A CBI official had registered the FIR against the couple.

Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seized over 30 articles of clothing of girls living at the Muzaffarpur shelter home to forensically check them for DNA samples that may belong to those who sexually abused them, officials involved with investigations said.

At least 34 girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused over a period of time at the government-funded shelter home in Bihar. The horror came to light after a social audit done by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in May. The CBI investigators have also found evidence suggesting that some of the purported victims were forcibly sent to a hotel in the city where a prostitution ring was allegedly being run by Thakur, the in-charge of the shelter home.

“The clothes form the bedrock of our forensic probe. We hope that during forensic examinations, analysts may be able to lift DNA samples of those who used to come to the shelter home to sexually abuse the girls,” said an official involved with the probe.

“There is evidence to suggest that the girls were sent to a hotel, allegedly owned by Thakur, where a prostitution racket was being run. Besides the hotel, the girls were sent a building adjacent to the shelter home where people used to abuse the girls. It also didn’t help that the shelter home was close to the red light area of the city. It was not a place to run a shelter home,” he added.

The investigating team istalking to at least 50 more girls. “Over 40 girls used to stay in the shelter home. There are around a dozen more who were shifted to other shelter homes but faced sexual abuse when they were under Thakur’s care. We have examined around 20 girls so far, but the process is time-consuming as investigators are talking to them through counsellors. The girls are not being approached directly by the investigators,” he said.

On Thursday, the CBI arrested four persons in the case, including an assistant director in the Bihar social welfare department.

First Published: Sep 21, 2018 23:57 IST