PATNA: Bihar’s former social welfare minister Manju Verma’s husband and JD(U) leader Chandrashekhar Verma finally surrendered on Monday before a court in Begusarai district in connection with an Arms Act case, which is linked to the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex abuse case.
Verma, a former JD(U) MLC who had been on the run since being named in the shelter home case, surrendered at the sub-divisional court at Manjhaul and was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. However, he denied his role in the sexual abuse case and blamed the media for naming him.
Manju Verma was forced to resign from the Nitish Kumar Cabinet on August 9 after her husband’s name surfaced in the sexual abuse case. She and her husband were booked following the recovery of 50 live cartridges at their house during a raid by the CBI on August 17 in connection with the abuse case.
Bihar’s DGP K S Dwivedi said Verma surrendered because of the heightened police pressure. But Congress MLC and spokesperson Prem Chandra Mishra dismissed it as “a drama” and alleged that “total protection from arrest was provided to the Verma couple by the ruling dispensation”.
RJD legislator Bhai Birendra said Manju Verma remains a JD(U) MLA and has been “evading arrest by taking shelter at the CM’s residence”.
As many as 34 minor girls residing at a government-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur were subjected to sexual abuses for months. The case is being probed by CBI.