Muzaffarpur horror: Bihar court rejects ex-Minister's bail plea

Patna, Jan 2 (IANS) A Bihar court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of former state Minister Manju Verma, who surrendered in November last year after absconding for nearly three months in an arms case related to the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases.After hearing the bail petition of Manju Verma, the Begusarai District Court reserved its order in the first-half of the day and rejected her plea in the second-half.Manju Verma surrendered in the court after a lower court and the Patna High Court rejected her interim bail petition. The Supreme Court had also slammed the Bihar Police for its failure to arrest her.The police in mid-November attached the properties of Manju Verma following a court order in an arms case linked to the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape cases.Verma was arrested under the Arms Act following the recovery of 50 live cartridges from her residences in Patna and Begusarai during a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid. Manju Verma resigned on August 8 over allegations that Brajesh Thakur, the main accused in the Muzaffarpur case, had links with her husband. Thankur is now lodged in the Muzaffarpur jail.Of the 42 girls lodged at the short-stay home run by Thakur's NGO, 34 were found to have been sexually assaulted. The crime came to light after a social audit by the Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai.
--IANS ik/nir