CBI, forensic team raid Brajesh home

Patna: A CBI team and officials from the central forensic science laboratory (CFSL), New Delhi, on Saturday conducted a search of the residential premises of Brajesh Thakur and the shelter home on Sahu Road in Muzaffarpur where 34 out of 42 girl inmates were allegedly raped and tortured over a period of time.

The experts collected scientific evidence to accelerate the investigation in the case. The CFSL team opened the sealed rooms in which the girls were staying before being shifted from Muzaffarpur to Madhubani, Patna and Mokama. The searches were conducted by the CBI for the first time after it took over the investigation on July 29 this year.

A senior police official associated with the investigation said the entire process of collecting the evidence from the rooms was video-graphed for record. “The shelter home was sealed by the district administration following the arrest of Brajesh Thakur and nine others in the case on June 2 this year,” the police officer said.

The CBI team led by deputy inspector-general Abhay Kumar summoned Brajesh’s son Rahul Anand and quizzed him for nearly three hours. The members of the team sought clarifications from Anand on certain files which were produced before him. Anand is the editor of Hindi daily Pratap Kamal, the office of which is located on the same premises.

The CBI officials, sources said, were shocked to see the hellish condition of the rooms in which the residents of the government funded Balika Grih were forced to live in. The team was camping at the site till the time of filing the report (7.30pm). The officials were busy in scrutinizing the documents that were seized by the police earlier.

Additional security forces were deployed outside the four-storey building in which both the shelter home and the offices of the newspaper were located. No outsiders, including mediapersons, were allowed to go inside. Some women cops both in uniform and civil dress were also called. An earth-digging machine was also brought to the building premises.

The police officials of Muzaffarpur had earlier seized attendance registers of the employees of the shelter home and files containing the names and addresses of the residents, visitors’ registers and those pertaining to inspection conducted by the officials of the social welfare department. All the relevant files were later handed over to the CBI by investigating officer Jyoti Kumari.

The government has already cancelled the registration of Brajesh’s NGO – Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, which ran the shelter home for minor girls. In addition, the NGO’s assets and the bank accounts were also frozen, an official said.

Muzaffarpur district registration officer Sanjay Kumar said orders to freeze the bank accounts and the ban on sale and purchase of any movable or immovable property of Brajesh, his family members and the NGO were passed by district magistrate Mohammad Sohail on August 8.

The DM’s orders had followed a directive issued on August 6 from the state registration department, where it was stated that the NGO’s registration was being cancelled as it was blacklisted by the social welfare department for alleged sexual abuse of inmates at the shelter home. Henceforth, there should be no transaction through the bank accounts of the Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti nor should there be any sale or purchase of movable or immovable assets in its name, Kumar said, adding that the office-bearers and the members of the NGO were also restrained from carrying out any activity in its name.

Courtesy: The Telegraph