Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal: CBI releases accused Brajesh Thakur's son after day-long interrogation

Patna: Following a day-long interrogation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday released the son of Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal prime accused Brajesh Thakur. His son - Rahul Anand - was detained on Saturday from the premises owned by them.

A team of the intelligence agency conducted a thorough search for 11 hours with the help of forensic experts, sifted through documents and interrogated people close to him. The team, which had reached Thakur's Sahu Road residence at around 9 am, left at around 8 pm with his son.

Anand is the publisher and editor of Hindi daily "Pratah Kamal", the office of which is situated within the same premises as the residence and the shelter home which have since been sealed.

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 media persons and a number of other curious onlookers.

In a related development, Bihar Police had on Saturday recovered a list of 40 mobile phone numbers and the names of those whom they were issued against from Brajesh Thakur, who is currently in police custody.

Police said they spotted Thakur in an area reserved for people coming to meet prisoners lodged in the jail and recovered two handwritten pages with 40 mobile phone numbers and the names of those they were issued against. 

A district administration official said the names of some powerful people, including a minister, were written on two pages recovered from Thakur during the search. 

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

(With inputs from agencies)