CBI arrests one more in Muzaffarpur shelter home case

The arrested man, Gaurav Kumar alias Motu, is an employee of the newspaper press owned by shelter home sex scandal key-accused Brajesh Thakur.

The CBI on Friday arrested one person in connection with the alleged murder of an inmate at the government-funded Muzaffarpur shelter home where more than 30 girls were allegedly sexually abused over a period of time.

The shelter home at Muzaffarpur, Bihar, where more than 30 girls were allegedly sexually abused over a period of time. (HT File Photo)

The arrested man, Gaurav Kumar alias Motu, is an employee of the newspaper press owned by shelter home sex scandal key-accused Brajesh Thakur.

Motu, a resident of Karja police station area in Muzaffarpur, was produced before the special POCSO court, which remanded him in CBI custody. He was on the run since the shelter home case came to light.

His name in the murder of the inmate cropped up after Thakur’s driver Vijay Tiwari and printing press’ peon Guddu Patel, who were arrested earlier by the CBI, spilled the beans.

Following revelations by Tiwari and Patel, a skeleton was dug out from the crematorium at Sikandrapur on Wednesday. The probe agency on Thursday told the Supreme Court, which has been monitoring the investigation, that the skeleton belonged to a 15-year-old girl.

Besides Tiwari and Patel, the CBI had on September 20 arrested Rosy Rani, assistant director in the social welfare department and Santosh Kumar. All the four accused have been sent to judicial custody after the expiry of the CBI remand.

During investigation, the CBI found that Rani, who was posted as assistant director between 2015 and 2017, did not take any action despite being informed by the victims about the sexual abuse at the shelter home.

The CBI is likely to charge Rani for abetment of the crime.

The medical examination of the 42 inmates of shelter home run by Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, an NGO promoted by Thakur, had revealed that 34 girls were drugged, tortured and repeatedly raped over several months at the facility. It was only after this that Thakur was arrested and the inmates were moved to better-protected shelters.

Following a huge outcry, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar handed over the probe to the CBI. State’s social welfare minister Manju Verma had to resign on August 8 after it was disclosed that her husband had spoken to Thakur several times between January and June.