Muzaffarpur shelter home case: FIR against Manju Verma, husband under Arms act after raids by CBI

The CBI had conducted raids at 12 locations, including Manju Verma's residences, on August 17 and had seized at least 50 cartridges.

An FIR has been registered against former Bihar social welfare minister Manju Verma and her husband Chandrasekhar Verma under Arms act after the Central Bureau of Investigation conducted raids at their residences in Patna and Begusarai in connection with Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case.

The central agency had conducted raids at 12 locations, including her residences, on August 17 and had seized at least 50 cartridges.

The CBI also questioned former minister Damodar Rawat, who was the social welfare minister in the first term of the NDA government in Bihar, for alleged connections with Muzaffarpur shelter home case prime accused Brajesh Thakur.

Reports said that Rawat was questioned by the CBI officials for over five hours at an isolated location in Jamui district of Bihar. Responding to the same, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday questioned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as to what relation the Janata Dal United (JDU) has with Brajesh Thakur.

The RJD leader tweeted, “Nitish Ji, When you are expelling your cabinet colleague for 10 years and Vice-President of JDU in connection with Brajesh Thakur? If his son has been suspended then why he is spared? What relation ur party JDU shares main culprit of #MuzaffarpurShelterHome ? Where is morality? (sic).”

Manju Verma had resigned as the social welfare minister due to alleged connection of her husband with the prime accused in the case. Her husband was accused of making frequent visits to the shelter home in Muzaffarpur.

The alleged sex scandal in Muzaffarpur surfaced in a social audit conducted by Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences. More than 40 girls had been lodged at the shelter home and medical reports suggest that over half of them may have had sexual intercourse at some point of time.

An FIR was lodged by the state social welfare department in June, which led to the arrest of 10 people. The NGO running the shelter home has been blacklisted and all the girls have been moved to shelter homes in other districts while the premises has been sealed.