Bihar minister files defamation case against Tejashwi Yadav

Accusing Tejashwi Yadav of dragging his name in the shelter home sex scandal, Bihar minister Suresh Sharma today lodged a defamation suit against the RLD leader.

Sharma, who holds the urban development ministry and represents Muzaffarpur constituency in the state assembly, filed his complaint before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Hari Prasad.

The matter is likely to be taken up for hearing on August 29.

Notably, the BJP MLA had last month sent a legal notice to Yadav-- the leader of opposition in Bihar assembly-- for alleging that he had close links with Brajesh Thakur, prime accused in the sexual abuse of 34 girl inmates of the shelter home run by his NGO.

Sharma has maintained that his name was being dragged in the scandal because he was the local MLA and has insisted that he has no relations with Thakur.

Meanwhile, Yadav has demanded the minister's resignation and accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of being "scared" of pressing for the same as Sharma belonged to the BJP, which was in power at the Centre.

Manju Verma, an MLA of Kumar's JD(U), had resigned as the social welfare minister last month after it came to light that her husband had spoken to Thakur 17 times between January and June this year.

The scandal had come to light following a social audit report submitted by Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences before the state government earlier this year.

Medical examinations pointed at the possibility of 34 of of the inmates of the shelter home, all minor girls, having faced sexual abuse.

Altogether 10 persons, including Thakur - who headed the NGO which ran the state-funded shelter home - were arrested in pursuance of an FIR lodged by the social welfare department.

The matter was handed over to the CBI following a huge public outcry.

Thakur's NGO was initially blacklisted and its registration later on cancelled and bank accounts frozen.