PATNA: Four days after police started attaching her properties, absconding former Bihar social welfare minister and ruling JD(U) legislator Manju Verma on Tuesday surrendered dramatically before a court in a case related to the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuses scandal and was sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
Verma, who had been evading arrest for nearly three months, reached the sub-divisional court at Manjhaul in Begusarai district in an auto-rickshaw and had her face covered fully with a shawl. She fainted twice on the court premises before appearing before the judge and regained sense after water was sprinkled on her.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Prabhat Trivedi took cognisance of her surrender and remanded her to judicial custody for 14 days. She and her husband, former JD(U) MLC Chandrashekhar Verma, are co-accused in the case registered under the Arms Act for recovery of illegal ammunition at her house by CBI. Verma had surrendered in court on October 29 and was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
The case against the couple pertains to the recovery of 50 live cartridges at her house at Cheria Bariyarpur in Begusarai district by CBI during a raid on August 17 in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuses case. Manju Verma was forced to resign on August 8 after allegations that her husband had close links with the Muzaffarpur shelter home scandal prime accused Brajesh Thakur and that he used to visit the premises without anyone accompanying him. Thakur was recently shifted from the Muzaffarpur jail to a jail in Patiala to prevent him from influencing witnesses and obstructing the ongoing CBI probe.
The Supreme Court had rapped Bihar police for failure to arrest her after an arrest warrant was issued against her. Her anticipatory bail pleas were rejected by both the Begusarai court and Patna High Court. The Supreme Court had asked Bihar DGP KS Dwivedi to appear before it in person on November 27 if she was not arrested by then.
Police started attaching Manju Verma’s assets at her houses on Friday. Sources said she surrendered after learning that police were planning to attach her bank accounts. The Opposition RJD and Congress attacked Bihar’s Nitish Kumar-led NDA government over her surrender, claiming that the regime was protecting her and working to weaken the case.
As many as 34 minor girls living at a government-funded shelter home in Muzaffarpur were allegedly subjected to prolonged sexual abuse and violence by the staff and men coming from outside in what appeared to be a well-oiled network. The horrific abuses, which came to light in a social audit report of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, is being probed by CBI.