Muzaffarpur case: CBI raids Manju Verma's residence

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday raided former Bihar Welfare Department Minister Manju Verma's residence in Patna and Begusarai in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home case.

Meanwhile, CBI also conducted raids at 12 places in four cities of Bihar in connection with the case.

Manju Verma resigned from the post after her husband, Chandrakant Verma, was accused of having alleged links with Brajesh Thakur, the key mastermind of the Muzaffarpur shelter home rapes.

Her resignation came a couple of days after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar assured that the culprits behind the alleged incident would not be spared, and would be put behind the bars.

The former state minister lately has been in the eye of the storm, after the opposition parties demanded her resignation over her husband's alleged involvement surfaced.

Chandrakant allegedly used to visit the shelter home quite frequently, spending hours in the girls' room in the shelter home. However, the couple had denied the allegations.

Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stood beside her, one of her party colleagues, Gopal Narayan Singh had demanded her resignation.

The issue of alleged sexual exploitation of more than 40 girls at a Muzaffarpur shelter home was uncovered more than a month ago by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Later, 11 employees of the child shelter home were arrested.

Education Minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma was given an additional charge of the Social Welfare Department, a day after Manju tendered her resignation from the post in connection with the case.