Bihar police attach property of absconding ex-minister Manju Verma

The Bihar police Saturday attached property of former state minister Manju Verma, evading arrest under the arms act following recovery of ammunition from her home during a CBI raid in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal case.

Armed with a court order, the police initiated the process of attaching Verma's property at Arjun tola village here.

Amid tight security, the police removed the grill, doors, door frames of a house belonging to her, superintendent of police Awakash Kumar said.

All articles inside the house were seized during the operation initiated under sections 82 and 83 of Criminal Procedure Code. It lasted for around five hours.

Earlier in the day, a property attachment notice was pasted on Verma's house, Kumar said.

Verma had stepped down as the minister for social welfare in August, following reports that her husband, Chandrashekhar Verma, had close links with Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal.

Over 30 girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused at the shelter home.

A few days later, the CBI raided Verma's Patna residence besides her in-laws' home at Cheria Bariarpur in Begusarai from where a cache of ammunition was seized. A case was then registered against her.

She moved an application for anticipatory bail before a Begusarai court which was turned down and a similar plea was rejected by the Patna High Court.

Her husband surrendered before a Begusarai court on October 29.

The Supreme Court earlier this week rapped the Bihar police for failing to arrest the former minister and directed the DGP to appear before it in person on November 27 if she was not nabbed by then.

Police are conducting raids in Bihar and Jharkhand to arrest Verma, who has been evading arrest for over a month and has been proclaimed an "absconder".

On Thursday, the JD(U) suspended Verma from the party's primary membership.

Bihar Director General of Police K S Dwivedi on Friday said the police are making "tremendous efforts" to arrest her.