Bihar shelter home case: ED likely to attach ex-minister's assets

New Delhi: Fresh trouble seems to be brewing for Bihar’s former social welfare minister Manju Verma as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is all set to initiate the proceedings to attach her properties as part of its money laundering investigation into the sexual abuse case at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur (Bihar). Manju Verma, who had been evading arrest in an Arms Act case, recently surrendered before a local court in the state that sent her to judicial custody till December 1.

Ms Verma, along with her husband, was named in the Arms Act case lodged in August after another Central probe agency — the CBI, which is also probing Ms Verma’s alleged role in the Muzaffarpur case — raided the former minister’s residence around one-and-a-half-month ago and recovered more than 50 live cartridges. “The ED is scrutinising bank account details of Ms Verma and her relatives. The ED sleuths may soon attach her assets provisionally,” sources said. The ED registered the case, on the basis of CBI’S FIR, to investigate if illegal funds were generated and laundered by this alleged criminal activity involving prime accused Brajesh Thakur, sources said.