Muzaffarpur home sex scandal: Prime accused shifted to Bhagalpur jail
Brajesh Thakur, prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal, was today shifted to Special Central Jail in Bhagalpur from the Shaheed Khudiram Bose Jail, Muzaffarpur, a prison official said. Thakur headed the NGO that ran the shelter home where more than 30 girls are said to have suffered sexual abuse. He has been in jail in Muzaffarpur since June this year.
Only Thakur has been shifted, no directions for others: Superintendent
Jail superintendent Rajiv Kumar Singh said at present only Thakur has been shifted out of the Muzaffarpur jail. No further direction has been received to transfer any other accused in the case. Till now, 15 persons have been arrested in connection with the case.
Why was Thakur shifted to other jail?
Sources in the prison department said that the move to shift Thakur was as per a request by the CBI, which is investigating the case. The Central Agency was wary of keeping Thakur in the jail since it was overcrowded and situated in a town where he was an influential person. CBI was handed over the case by Nitish Kumar Government in July.
How did the scandal come to light?
The scandal had come to light earlier this year when Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences, in its report of social audit conducted of shelter homes across Bihar, cited complaints of sexual abuse by inmates of the care unit for minor girls in Muzaffarpur. An FIR was lodged by State Social Welfare Department thereafter and police arrested 10 persons, including Thakur, in this connection.
Social Welfare Minister resigned, her husband had links with Thakur
The Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma also stepped down shortly afterward following allegations that her husband Chandrashekhar Verma had close links with Thakur. Recently, the CBI arrested five more persons in connection with the case. One of them is a Social Welfare Department official, and the remaining are employees of Thakur, who also owned many businesses and even published a number of small newspapers.
