Ex-minister surrenders in shelter home case

Jitendra K Shrivastava

Tribune News Service

Patna, November 20

Former Bihar minister Manju Verma, who had been evading arrest in an Arms Act case lodged in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home scam, today surrendered in a Begusarai court which remanded her to judicial custody till December 1.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Manjhaul Sub-Division, Prabhat Trivedi passed the order after a medical team examined the condition of the former minister, who fell unconscious after reaching the court in an auto-rickshaw. She had kept her face covered with a shawl and sari.

Her surrender came as relief for the Bihar Government which has been rebuked by the Supreme Court over its inability to trace her. The SC had directed to the Bihar DGP to appear before the court in person on November 27 if she was not arrested by then.

Confirming her surrender, ADG (Headquarters) AK Singhal said: “Verma, who was remanded in judicial custody today, will be taken on police remand for questioning. She surrendered after the police built pressure on them”.

Manju Verma had stepped down as the Social Welfare Minister following allegations of links between her husband Chandeshwar Prasad Verma and Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the scandal.

Of the girls lodged at the government-funded Muzaffarpur shelter home, 34 were found to have been sexually assaulted.

(With agency inputs)