CBI team probing Muzaffarpur shelter home case finds human bones at cremation ground

The CBI team probing the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home case where minor inmates were sexually abused, found a few human bones at cremation ground on Wednesday while looking for the remains of a minor girl who was allegedly killed, an official said.

The horror which came to light five months ago, revealed that at least 34 girls were sexually exploited and one was allegedly killed and buried clandestinely to hush up the murder.

On Wednesday, following a tip off from Vijay, driver of the main accused Brajesh Thakur, the CBI investigators reached the local cremation ground with an earth moving machine. The excavation revealed some human bones which they confiscated to conduct tests.

According to a CBI official, who did not wish to be identified, the bones were found at a depth of three-and-a-half-feet in the ground. He said the bones could be of the shelter home girl, who was allegedly killed and buried.

“The bones have been sent for DNA sampling. Only after the DNA report, we will be able to confirm if the deceased was the same girl who was allegedly killed at the short stay home,” said the official.

The digging started around noon in the presence of an executive magistrate and was videographed.

The abuse of minor girls at the shelter home was uncovered following a social audit report by Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). The audit pointed out grave irregularities and sexual exploitation of inmates at the government-funded shelter home run by Brajesh Thakur’s NGO Seva Sankalp Ewam Vikas Samiti.

Earlier on July 22, following the exposure, Muzaffarpur police had dug up the premises of the shelter home to locate the remains of the minor girl, who according to one of the inmates, was allegedly killed and buried on the campus after gang rape. The excavation did not find anything.

One of the rape survivors in her statement before a magistrate had revealed that the victim, a minor, was mercilessly thrashed after she declined to yield to the shelter home owner’s carnal desires and subsequently died of injuries.

So far, ten people including NGO owner Brajesh Thakur, seven women office-bearers, child welfare committee member Vikash Kumar and child protection officer Ravi Kumar Raushan have been arrested in the case.

First Published: Oct 03, 2018 21:08 IST