Muzaffarpur shelter home case: Ex-minister booked under Arms Act

Patna: Trouble seems to be mounting for JD(U) leader and former social welfare minister Manju Verma and her husband Chandeshwar Verma as a case has been registered against the couple under the Arms Act.

According to the police, the case has been filed against the senior ruling party leader and her husband following the recovery of 50 live cartridges from their Begusarai-based residence during the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid last week.  

Preliminary investigation in the case reveals that some of the cartridges recovered were of automatic rifles including an SLR.  

“The case has been registered on the basis of the report provided by the CBI. We are currently trying to find the source of cartridges found from their house,” Cheria Bariarpur SHO Ranjit Kumar Rajak told reporters on Sunday.

The CBI had raided around 12 locations on Friday including Verma’s residences in Patna and Begusarai in connection with Muzaffarpur shelter home case.

Muzaffarpur was among 110 shelter homes where 34 minor girls were subjected to extreme brutality and raped by officials and employees of the facility.

According to 100-page report which was made public on Saturday by the state government, Muzaffarpur shelter home had been “running in a highly questionable manner along with grave instances of sexual abuse of violence. Several girls reported about violence and being sexually abused”.

The TISS in its audit report had pointed out sexual exploitation in almost all shelter homes in Bihar.

The state government had commissioned an audit of shelter and short stay homes by the TISS in 2017 and the report was submitted to the social welfare department in April this year.

“Almost all institutions found to be running in violation of the respective schemes and the essence of the juvenile justice act but residents in the inalienable right of life were in question in certain institutions”, TISS audit report submitted to the social welfare department said.  

Verma had to resign earlier this month from her post after call data records (CDR) of her husband revealed his links with Brajesh Thakur, the main accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case.

Sources claimed that CBI officials had questioned Manju Verma for over six hours during a raid on Friday to find the location of her husband who has been absconding ever since his name surfaced in the shelter home case.

Police reports suggest that Chandeshwar Verma and Brajesh Thakur spoke with each other 17 times between January and May.

While Brajesh Thakur was arrested along with ten others in June, a manhunt has been launched to nab Chandeshwar Verma as he is considered a crucial link in the case.