Ex-Bihar minister Manju Verma untraceable, govt tells SC in Muzaffarpur shelter abuse case

A probe into the sexual abuse at a shelter home revealed that the husband of Manju Verma had spoken to the prime accused in the case, Brajesh Thakur, 17 times between January and June. Verma resigned from her ministerial post thereafter.

The Bihar government said in the Supreme Court on Wednesday its former cabinet minister Manju Verma, who resigned in the wake of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse scandal, could not be traced by police in a case related to the recovery of ammunition from her house.

Manju Verma resigned in August as social welfare minister after a telephone conversation linking her husband to the main accused Thakur became public.(PTI File Photo)

Verma who has been representing Cheria-Bariarpur assembly constituency on a Janata Dal(United) ticket since 2010, had to resign as the social welfare minister in the wake of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case where several women and girls were allegedly raped over time. A probe had revealed that her husband had spoken to the prime accused in the case, Brajesh Thakur, 17 times between January and June.

An FIR was registered against Verma and her husband under the arms act in August following the recovery of 50 cartridges from their Begusarai residence, owned by the former minister’s in-laws, during a raid by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case.

The top court had questioned Bihar police on Tuesday over its failure to arrest Verma in the case under arms act. It pointed out that even after the former minister’s anticipatory bail was rejected, she was not arrested by the police. The Patna High Court on October 9 dismissed Verma’s plea for a pre-arrest bail.

During the previous hearing, the court asked for a status report on the probe from the police and sought to know the whereabouts of Verma’s husband, Chandrashekhar Verma. The husband surrendered on Monday in the arms case.