At Bihar shelter home, doctor drugged girls, woman ‘taught’ minors sex: CBI
The surrender of Madhu Kumari, a close aide to prime accused Brajesh Thakur, is significant as she is expected to reveal details about activities at the shelter home where at least 30 girls were sexually exploited
Madhu Kumari alias Sajista Pravin, a close aide of Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual scandal prime accused Brajesh Thakur, surrendered before a CBI court in Muzaffarpur on Tuesday. CBI officials termed her arrest a “big catch” as she is supposed to have knowledge of activities at the shelter.
Her surrender coincided with the surrender of former social welfare minister Manju Verma in a Begusarai court on the same day.
On the basis of Madhu’s statement, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Dr Ashwani Kumar, who allegedly used to inject the minor girls at the shelter home with drugs.
The surrender of Madhu is significant as she had gone underground ever since the horrific sexual exploitation of at least 30 girls at the short stay home came to light.
Soon after her surrender, she was produced before the court for Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act cases. Later, the CBI sleuths took her on remand for interrogation. They are likely to question Madhu on her whereabouts during the last two-three months and all information she had about the shelter home activities.
CBI officials said Madhu’s arrest was a big catch’ in the case. During investigation, the probe agency found that she was “involved in teaching the shelter home children how to have sex”.
Talking to reporters before her surrender, Madhu said she was innocent and her name did not figure even in the FIR.
“I had no reason to hide. The reason why I have chosen to appear before the CBI now is that recently the investigators visited my residence a number of times and this was causing inconvenience to my family members,” she said. Asked about reports that she had been hiding in Nepal, she said she was very much in Bihar and not hiding.
Meanwhile, a senior official said her interrogation would be crucial for getting vital clues about the goings on in the ‘horror home’, as she was the main conduit in Thakur’s racket.
Madhu had a checkered childhood, allegedly spent in the red light area of Muzaffarpur. She was later spotted by Thakur, who made her a correspondent of his newspaper, ‘Halaat-e-Bihar’, to allegedly win favours from officials.
She got married, but that did not last long. Thakur made her the pointsperson for an organisation, ‘Wama Shakti Vahini’. Madhu was appointed a member of the Juvenile Justice Board between 2008 and 2012 and given a bodyguard.
It was due to Madhu’s clout that her name was recommended by the district administration to the department of social welfare for a womans’ award, on the basis of the recommendation of a district-level committee.
