Did MP govt grant funds to tainted hostel illegally?

Bhopal: The role of social justice department of Madhya Pradesh government has come under the scanner following revelations that the women’s hostel — which had allegedly turned the inmates, deaf-mute girls, into the sex slaves of its director Ashwin Sharma — had been receiving grants “illegally” by it.

Documents seized during the raids in the hostel by the police have revealed that the shelter home had been receiving grants from the state government for the past several years despite the fact that it was not registered as a wom-en’s hostel. “We have seized some documents in the hostel which indicated that it was run with government funds. It was not registered as a women’s hostel with the social justice department of the state government. It was registered as a boys’ hostel where girls were staying,” Bhopal district superintendent of police (SP) Rahul Lodha told reporters here on Monday.

State social justice minister Gopal Bhargav, however, denied that any grants were given to the hostel.

“No grants were given to the hostel. Only scholarships were released to students to study at the Industrial Training Institute (ITI),” he told reporters.

“We have sought queries from the officers concerned in the social justice department regarding the release of grants to the hostel,” Mr Lodha said.

A preliminary probe by special investigation team (SIT) constituted to investigate alleged rape of inmates of the hostel has revealed that the hostel began functioning in 2016 and horrific incidents of rape and molestation of the inmates began to pour in this year.

Four girls have filed FIR alleging rape and molestation by the director when they were staying in the hostel. Sources said a fifth victim of the alleged sexual predator has surfaced and may file an FIR against the accused soon.