Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal: CBI seeks case documents from state's welfare dept

A CBI team probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal today sought a number of documents relating to the case from the Bihar Social Welfare Department (SWD).

The CBI team has sought five or six documents relating to the case. The director of the social welfare department has been instructed to arrange them by tomorrow, SWD principal secretary Atul Prasad told PTI.

Though he did not divulge any further details, unconfirmed reports said the documents asked for include the agreement between the Muzaffarpur-based NGO Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, which ran the state-funded shelter home, and the department.

The NGO, run by key accused Brajesh Thakur, was blacklisted after sexual abuse of girls came to light in a social audit report conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Medical examination of 34 of the 42 shelter home inmates has confirmed that they were sexually assaulted. Ten out of 11 accused persons have been arrested in the case.

Yesterday, the CBI team had visited Madhubani district, where many of the girls formerly lodged at the Muzaffarpur shelter were shifted.

It later visited shelter homes in Patna and Mokama, about 100 kms from the Bihar capital, where the remaining girls are staying.

A team of forensic experts today raided the premises of Swadhar Grih, a self-help group run by Thakur's NGO in Muzaffarpur, from where 11 inmates have gone missing.

Jyoti Kumari, in-charge of Mahila Thana where an FIR was lodged in connection with the disappearance of the women on Monday, accompanied the forensic team.

According to police sources, a number of "objectionable items" were recovered during the raid.