Make Brajesh Thakur's call records public, hiding BJP leader will be exposed: Tejashwi

In a scathing attack at Nitish Kumar in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday asked the Bihar Chief Minister to make main accused Brajesh Thakur's call records public so that the name of a BJP leader, who is hiding, can also come out.

"I want Nitish Kumar to make Brajesh Thakur's call records public. If Manju Verma's number is found in his records, then CBI can also trace the number of that leader from BJP quota against whom the girls of the shelter home alleged harassment. Nitish Kumar is protecting a person who is not only a minister in his government but his close aide. When Nitish comes to Delhi, that person is with him," Tejashwi told media here.

Tejashwi further announced that in the next two-three days he will reveal the phone number of that leader and his personal secretary. He claimed that the number is now switched off but still through previous records the name of the leader can be found.

"The girl, who informed about this minister, was shifted from Muzaffarpur shelter home after her statement. They sent her to Madhubani. Now nobody knows where that girl is. Whether she is dead or alive, that is also not known. I don't know what Bihar Police is doing," Yadav said.

He added, "Nitish Kumar is fully involved in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case. He tried to hide the TISS report on the shelter home. It is shameful how Nitish Kumar earlier made all efforts to save his minister (Manju Verma). An affidavit was submitted in the POCSO court. It is clearly written in it that Nitish Kumar and many others are involved and that there should be an investigation," he added.

Besides the Bihar Chief Minister and state police, Tejashwi has also raised questions over the investigation being carried forward by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"We want to know why didn't the CBI involve the doctors' statements in their charge sheet? Why they hide it? Why I am calling Nitish Kumar a corrupt person is because the FIR, in this case, was registered two months after the TISS report came out. That too was done when there were protests in the Bihar Assembly and outside it. Also, the name of Brajesh Thakur, the main accused, was not there in the FIR," Tejashwi said.

"If Lalu Yadav or my name was involved in this case, then the CBI would have made come to us regularly for interrogation. They could have arrested us. Why CBI is silent now? If you will join BJP then you will be called Raja Harishchandra, but if you will fight against them then you will be called a thief and corrupt. If there is humanity alive in Nitish Kumar, then he should first ask CBI to investigate against him. Also, if CBI is honest and not influenced by BJP-led central government, then they should also start interrogating the Bihar Chief Minister as soon as possible," he added.

His statement comes after the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar earlier stated that no order has been issued for CBI inquiry into the allegations levelled against Nitish Kumar by an accused in the Muzzafarpur shelter home case.

More than 40 minor girls were allegedly sexually assaulted over a period of time in the shelter home which was run by a state-funded NGO. The case came to light following an audit report submitted by Mumbai's leading research institute, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Ashwani Kumar, an accused in Muzaffarpur shelter home case, had filed a petition in a local court here demanding probe against Nitish, Muzaffarpur District Magistrate Dharmendra Singh, and Principal Secretary, Social Welfare, Atul Prasad. The CBI had arrested Ashwani Kumar for allegedly injecting minor girls with drugs in November last year.

His arrest came after the surrender of Saista Praveen alias Madhu, a close aide of Brajesh Thakur, who is the key accused in the case.