Court issues arrest warrant against Manju Verma

A court here on Wednesday issued arrest warrant against former Bihar minister Manju Verma, who has been booked in an Arms Act case following the recovery of a huge cache of ammunition from her residence during a CBI raid in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Prabhat Trivedi issued the warrant against Verma, who stepped down as the social welfare minister in August following reports suggesting "close links" between her husband Chandrashekhar Verma and the prime accused in the shelter home scandal, Brajesh Thakur.

According to Begusarai Superintendent of Police Avakash Kumar, the court also granted two days' police remand for Chandrashekhar Verma who had surrendered before the court on Monday.

His surrender had come a few days after the Supreme Court had rapped the Bihar government for failing to secure his arrest.

The warrant against Manju Verma comes a day after the Bihar government faced flak from the apex court upon its submission that the former minister was "untraceable".

The Supreme Court on Tuesday pulled up Bihar Police for not arresting Manju Verma.

The anticipatory bail plea of Manju Verma, an MLA of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), was rejected by a court here and subsequently by the Patna High Court.