ED may soon attach properties of Muzaffarpur horror key accused

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may soon attach the properties of Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case key accused Brajesh Thakur, who is currently lodged in a high security jail in Punjab, an official said on Tuesday.

The ED official's remarks came two days after it questioned Thakur in the Patiala jail on Sunday after seeking permission from a Bihar court on January 5.

He said that Thakur was questioned by the agency's Patna team for over seven hours.

Thakur was shifted to the Patiala jail from the Bhagalpur Central Jail in Bihar on October 30, 2018, after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The ED official said after his questioning, the agency has got some details of Thakur's properties bought allegedly with ill-gotten money.

"Those properties are being identified and will be soon attached," he said.

The financial probe agency's action comes in the wake of a money laundering case it registered in October in the Muzaffarpur case pertaining to the rape of minor girls by officials of the shelter home.

The ED has filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) taking cognizance of an FIR filed by the CBI.

It is inquiring into the operations of the NGO Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti which had been running the shelter home since 2013.

It has been alleged that Thakur had managed to get his close relatives to become part of the NGO's governing body using fraudulent means.

Of the 42 girls lodged at the short-stay home run by the NGO, 34 were found to have been sexually assaulted.

The crime came to light following a social audit by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, over six months ago. The Supreme Court is monitoring the CBI probe into the case.

An FIR was lodged against 11 people, including Thakur, on May 31. The probe was later taken over by the CBI.

--IANS

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