Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases prime accused Brajesh Thakur transferred from Bihar to Patiala jail

Coming down heavily on the Bihar government in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape-murder cases, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that prime accused Brajesh Thakur be shifted out of the state to Punjab's Patiala jail and also asked the administration as to why has former state minister Manju Verma not been arrested till date.

Taking an extremely strong view in the case, the two-judge apex court bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta castigated the Bihar government for not acting against Manju Verma, who was the state social welfare minister till August 8, 2018, and asked if she was not arrested because she was an influential person. The court pointed out that Manju Verma's anticipatory bail petition in the Arms Act was rejected by Patna High Court on October 9 but there was no action against her.

The court observed that it was shocked to learn that Manju Verma remained a minister in Bihar government even three months after the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape-murder cases came to light.

Brajesh Thakur had been issued a notice on October 25 by the court to reply why he should not be shifted outside the state for a free and fair investigation into the horrific incident. The court had observed that Thakur was a very influential person and had been obstructing the ongoing investigation into the case.

The court had mentioned that the details in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) status report in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases were shocking and had "scary details" of how the crimes were committed. The court also asked the Bihar government and CBI as to why Manju Verma's husband Chandeshwar Verma, who has been accused of having close ties with Thakur, was yet to be arrested.

Chandeshwar finally surrendered before the District Court in Begusarai's Manjhaul on Monday (October 29). In raids conducted at his house later, the police recovered 50 live cartridges.

Over 30 women and girls were allegedly raped, sexually abused and killed at the shelter home in Muzaffarpur. A Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) audit report in early 2018 on the shelter homes in Bihar revealed that there was widespread sexual exploitation of women and girls in the shelter home in Muzaffarpur.

The first FIR in the case was registered on May 31, 2018, against 11 people, including Thakur, who was running the shelter home. The probe was later taken over by the CBI after a massive protest by the opposition parties and local people.