CBI team conducts probe at premises of main accused in Bihar sex scandal

A Central Bureau of Investigation probe team on Saturday visited Brajesh Thakur’s residence in Bihar from where he ran the shelter home, which is at the centre of a sex scandal, and conducted a thorough search with help from forensic experts, sifted through documents and interrogated people close to him.

Headed by Central Bureau of Investigation Deputy Inspector General Abhay Kumar, the team comprising a number of armed commandoes reached the residence on Sahu Road in Muzaffarpur, where the shelter home and the office of the Hindi daily ‘Pratah Kamal’ owned by Thakur, the main accused in the sex scandal, are also situated.

After entering the premises, the commandos locked the main gate of the premises from inside, preventing entry of media-persons and a number of other curious onlookers.

The CBI team is understood to have inspected the shelter home, after getting its seal opened, and collected documents and other items it found to be of value in the investigation.

The CBI team is also understood to have interrogated Thakur’s son Rahul Anand, in whose name the Hindi daily is registered and who holds the post of its editor.

CBI sleuths, accompanied by forensic experts, also inspected the courtyard, which was dug up last month by the police, following allegations by inmates that one of the girls was beaten to death by staff members of the shelter home a few years ago and her body was buried at the spot.

Nothing incriminating was found after the day-long excavation and the eight-feet-deep pit was again filled up.

However, the CBI appeared to be in for a second look as heavy earth mover machines have been summoned.

The Bihar government has cancelled the registration of the NGO - Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, which ran the shelter home for destitute girls.

The possibility of sexual exploitation of the girls at the shelter was first highlighted in an audit report by Tata Institute of Social Sciences, submitted to the state social welfare department in April. Medical examination of the girls later confirmed that 34, of the total 42, were sexually abused.

The FIR in the case was registered on May 31 against 11 people, including Thakur. On July 26, the Bihar government recommended a CBI inquiry in the matter.