Bihar Shelter Home Sex Scandal Probe Handed Over To The CBI

A day after the Bihar police chief said there was no need of a CBI probe into the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal, the Nitish Kumar government on Thursday morning, handed over the probe to the top investigating agency. The state government was under pressure after the opposition, led by RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, stuck to its demand of a CBI probe. Both houses of the state legislature were adjourned repeatedly on Wednesday, after ruckus over the alleged sexual assault of girls at the state-run shelter, for the past many months.

The police, today, are likely to file a chargesheet sources told NDTV. On Monday, the police dug up the premises but failed to find the body of a minor allegedly buried at the shelter. "Nothing has so far been found from the site during the excavation. However, the area of excavation might be increased after further examination of the girl, who had alleged that one of the inmates had been beaten to death," said Harpreet Kaur, senior police officer in Muzaffarpur. 

Meanwhile, the wife of an accused who has been arrested alleged that Bihar's Social Welfare Minister, Manju Verma's husband had often visited the shelter home and was a close associate of the main accused, Brajesh Thakur, who had campaigned for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Mrs Verma has not denied that her husband visited the home but claimed that she was always with him, when he went there. Mrs Verma has challenged the opposition to prove the allegations and provide evidence of any wrong doing done by her husband. 

Tejashwi Yadav, who is in charge of RJD, while his father Lalu Yadav is serving a jail term, said the Muzaffarpur incident will be a big issue as he starts his statewide 'cycle yatra' today. "Many safedposh (white-collared) people are involved in the Muzaffarpur scandal and they enjoy proximity to the ruling dispensation," alleged Mr Yadav. 

A report submitted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, based on conversations with several girls who alleged sexual assault, exposed the horrific assault of scores of girls at a home meant to be their shelter.