CBI seeks ammo to grill Thakur

Patna: CBI officials on Wednesday met principal secretary, social welfare, Atul Prasad and sought certain files pertaining to the shelter homes run by the NGO owned by the jailed Brajesh Thakur.

The CBI officials also inquired from Prasad about the credentials of the NGO, Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti, run by Thakur. The meeting between Prasad and the CBI team lasted nearly 45 minutes.

Thakur, designated chief functionary of the NGO, is at present lodged in the Muzaffarpur central jail after he was named prime accused in the Balika Grih sexual assault case.

The CBI officials later told reporters that principal secretary Prasad had assured them of providing the relevant files by noon on Thursday. “We had sought certain information about the NGO run by Brajesh Thakur,” an investigating officer said.

Sources said the CBI wanted to collect sufficient evidence against Thakur before interrogating him.

Contacted, principal secretary Prasad said the social welfare department, which is in charge of all shelter homes funded by the government, was “serious about the investigation” and would cooperate with the agency.

The sources said that another CBI team recorded the statements of some of the Balika Grih rape survivors who are now living in Patna, Mokama and Madhubani.

Amid the probe, reports of alleged sexual assault of inmates of another shelter home for juveniles came to the fore at Ara in Bhojpur.

Videos and photographs purportedly of inmates of the remand home at Dharhara locality went viral on social networking sites, prompting the police to lodge a complaint.

The pictures showed some of the boys with bruises on their bodies and reports claimed that some of them had also been sexually assaulted.

Bhojpur SP Awakash Kumar said he had information about the physical assault on a minor boy.

Courtesy: The Telegraph