Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case: CBI probe deepens, two former ministers under lens
Patna, Aug. 21 -- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is all set to widen the ambit of probe in Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case.
After former minister Manju Verma, her husband Chandeshwar Verma, personal assistant Amaresh Kumar Amar and CDPO Poonam Sinha, more politicians, including two former ministers, bureaucrats and officials of social welfare department are likely to come under CBI scanner.
The reason: the report by Muzaffarpur police points to enormous clout of Brajesh Thakur, the kingpin in the case, who associated himself with former ministers and other officials to amass huge benami property, using flesh trade as a medium to expand his network.
The CBI has deepened its investigation to unravel the nexus that allowed Brajesh Thakur to manipulate things in the department of social welfare in connivance with the officials since 2013.
It was in 2013 that Thakur stepped into shelter home business through his NGOs.
"We will quiz former director, social welfare department, Sunil Kumar, during whose tenure Thakur got a lot of benefits. We will also try to trace Thakur's journey since 2013, as things did not happen overnight.
We will also talk to the present director Rajkumar to know the reasons why FIR was not lodged immediately after serious irregularities surfaced," a CBI official said.
He said Sunil Kumar, former DM of Lakhisarai, was made additional secretary-cum-director, social security-cum-disability on July 31, 2017 while Rajkumar, earlier posted as DM Sheohar, was shifted to social welfare department on April 28 this year.
Both the officials failed to conduct internal inquiry despite knowing that an FIR was inevitable.
Though CBI officials denied having quizzed former minister Damodar Rout, they said if required, in course of the probe, the investigating agency would quiz anyone related to the incident over the phenomenal growth of Thakur.
"At present, we are going by the supervision report of Muzaffarpur police to get to the bottom of the matter.
