PATNA: Bihar social welfare minister Manju Verma, whose husband is accused of frequenting the Muzaffarpur shelter home and being close to the main accused in the case of sexual abuse of inmates, resigned on Wednesday minutes after meeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Sources said the CM had asked Verma to see him and, after a brief conversation, asked her to put in her papers. Verma had been under constant attack from the Opposition parties ever since the sexual exploitation of minor girls at a government-funded shelter home in Muzaffarpur came to light.
Even some leaders of BJP, the ruling ally in Bihar, had sought her resignation. Verma, a two-term MLA of Nitish Kumar's JD(U), rushed to her residence immediately after resigning and refused to speak to reporters there. Her aides said she would speak on Thursday.
While Nitish Kumar had defended her two days ago, he had also said that she would have to step down if any evidence comes up showing her involvement in the case. Kumar had also said action would be taken against her husband if he is found linked to the case.
Verma's husband Chandeshwar Verma, a former MLC of JD(U), had allegedly been in constant touch with scandal mastermind and NGO head Brajesh Thakur.
Phone call details accessed by police allegedly showed that he had made several phone calls to Thakur between January and June.
Staunchly denying her husband's involvement in the case, Verma had said recently that she would personally hang him at a public square if he is found linked to the accused in the sexual exploitation of minor girls at the Muzaffarpur shelter home. Medical examination of the minor girls residing at the shelter home has confirmed that 34 of them had had frequent sexual contacts.