The Central Bureau of Investigation probing the Bihar shelter home sexual abuse case has found a human skeleton after it dug up a cremation ground in Sikandarpur of Muzzafarpur district. The agency believes the skeletal remains belong to one of the victims.
More than 35 inmates of the shelter home were allegedly sexually assaulted and it was reported that one of the girls was killed and later buried to cover up the murder.
The shelter was being run by Brajesh Thakur, who is prime accused in the case. Thakur’s driver led the CBI team to the cremation ground.
A team of Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) was also present with the CBI to monitor the excavation.
The skeleton exhumed from the cremation ground has been sent to forensic lab for further examination.
The agency is likely to carry out DNA tests, and other forensic examination to ascertain the identity of the remains, CBI officials said.
Some of the victims in the government-funded shelter home run by Brajesh Thakur’s NGO have alleged that some of their fellow inmates were killed and buried after rape, they said.
The local police had carried out the digging at the location identified by the girls but could not find anything, they said.
The agency has questioned a close aide of Thakur after which it decided to carry out the excavation process, they said.
Besides Thakur, the agency had taken into custody Rosy Rani, assistant director in the social welfare department, staff members Guddu, Vijay and Santosh.
The agency has frozen 20 bank accounts of Thakur besides any kind of transaction of his movable and immovable properties have been barred, they said.
The Supreme Court had on September 20 vacated a Patna High Court order restraining the media from reporting on the probe into the shelter home case where several minor girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused over a period of time.
The incident came to light after a report from Tata Institute of Social Sciences alleged sexual abuse of about 34 girls at the shelter home following which an FIR was subsequently registered by the Bihar social welfare department and 10 people, including Thakur, were arrested.
Following a huge outcry, the Nitish Kumar government handed over the probe to the CBI.
His social welfare minister Manju Verma had to resign in August after it was disclosed that her husband had spoken to Thakur several times between January and June this year.
(With agency inputs)