Bihar abuse: Forensic experts to visit spot

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation, probing the Muzaffarpur (Bihar) shelter home sexual abuse case, is preparing to send a team of forensic experts again to the spot to collect fresh scientific evidence pertaining to the 11 missing inmates who were allegedly murdered by the prime accused and his associates.

Sources said, “Although the agency sleuths have collected evidence pertaining to 11 girls, who were said to be allegedly murdered by Thakur and his accomplices, the Central Bureau of Investigation may send a team of forensic experts once again to the spot”. The central probe agency recently informed the Supreme Court that 11 girls may have been murdered by key accused Brajesh Thakur and his accomplices and “bundle of bones” have been recovered from a burial ground.

In its affidavit filed in the top court, CBI had stated that from the statement of victims recorded during the probe, names of 11 girls emerged. The agency said that on the pointing out of one of the accused, a particular spot in a burial ground was excavated from where a bundle of bones was recovered. In the preliminary stages of the probe, minor girls rescued from the shelter home ‘Balika Grah’ in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur had told investigators that Thakur was responsible for the mysterious disappearance of inmates.

The agency also told the apex court that it is currently in the process of tracking down all of the girls whose name feature in the shelter home records.

Over 30 girls were allegedly raped at the shelter home, run by Thakur, chief of the state-funded NGO. An FIR was lodged on 31st May, 2018 against 11 people, including Thakur.

The probe was later taken over by the CBI. The alleged sexual exploitation of the girls was first highlighted in an audit report submitted by the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Mumbai, to the state’s Social Welfare Department in April, 2018. On scrutiny of the details of these 11 girls entered in the master register (of shelter home), it was found that there were a total of 35 girls with identical/similar names who at one time or the other stayed at Balika Grih, Muzaffarpur, sources said.