Supreme Court pulls up CBI, Bihar in shelter home rape case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Thursday, questioned the CBI and the Bihar government for not arresting Chandra-sekar Varma, husband of ex-minister Manju Varma, in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case. A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta sought a status report from the CBI explaining why Chandras-ekar, one of the accused, was not arrested. It issued notice to Brajesh Thakur, the main accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case, as to why he should not be shifted to a jail outside Bihar to ensure a free and fair probe in the case. The bench observed, “The main accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case, Brajesh Thakur, is a very influential person and is obstructing the ongoing probe and he should be shifted to a jail outside Bihar.”

After perusing the status report submitted by CBI on the probe, Justice Lokur said, “Shocking details have emerged, including that the girls were being sedated.”  

He observed that allegations levelled by CBI against prime accused Brajesh Thakur were very serious and the report “gives very scary details of how the crime was committed.”

When counsel for Bihar supported the shifting of Thakur to a jail outside Patna, the bench pulled up the state for its inaction and said that it will not be appropriate to keep Brajesh Thakur in Bihar jail as he is a very influential person.

On October 11, the CBI carried out searches at two separate locations in Muzaffarpur in connection with the sexual assault of minor girls at the state-funded shelter home in the district. The searches were carried out at the premises of ‘Balika Grih’ and ‘Sewa Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti,’ the non-profit group which the Centre ran, said officials.

Manju Verma had resigned as the social welfare minister following the registration of the case. It had come to light that her husband had allegedly spoken to Thakur several times between January and June this year. The bench posted the matter for further hearing on October 30.