No need for CBI probe into rape at girls' home: Bihar DGP

Amid growing demand for a CBI probe into the alleged rape of over 40 minor girls in a shelter home in Muzaffarpur of Bihar, state police chief K.S. Dwivedi on Tuesday said there is no need for a probe by the central agency as the on-going probe by the police is satisfactory.

"I don't think there is any need for a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe into the case. The state government has so far not taken any decision in this regard. The probe by state police is satisfactory," the Director General of Police (DGP) told the media here.

Dwivedi's statement assumes significance since after the opposition's demand for a CBI probe both in Lok Sabha as well as in Bihar Assembly, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said a CBI probe would be ordered once the Centre receives a request to this effect from the state.

Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) members raised the demand both inside and outside the state assembly here on Tuesday. Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the state government was doing everything to save the accused.

Former state Chief Minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi has also reiterated the demand for a CBI investigation, alleging that the accused had links with the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and government officials.

Meanwhile, Muzaffarpur Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harpreet Kaur said a special police team has been constituted to search half-a-dozen missing girls of the girls' home.

She said the police had been investigating the case ever since an inmate of the shelter home recorded her statement before a judicial magistrate recently, as required under the law.

The SSP said no buried body girl was found after police dug the ground at girls' home on Monday. Two girls, who had alleged that a girl was buried after she was raped and killed, were present during the digging of the said ground.

"It was they (the two girls) who had identified the site at 'Balika Grih' (girls' home), where a girl was allegedly buried," Kaur said.

She said the shelter home had been sealed after allegations of sexual abuse of the girls came to light during a social audit conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

The report of the audit was submitted to the state Social Welfare Department, which directed local officials to lodge a complaint.

Last week, medical examination of 44 girls of the home had revealed that 21 of them were raped. The district police have arrested an official of the home but main accused are still out of the net.

--IANS

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