Muzaffarpur shelter home case: ED attaches assets of accused

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday provisionally attached assets worth over Rs 7 crore belonging to the main accused in the Muzaffarpur children home rape and money laundering case, Brajesh Thakur, and his family members. The attached assets include 26 plots worth Rs 6.35 crore, three vehicles and 37 bank accounts having more than Rs 48 lakh balance.
The ED probe revealed that Thakur had received grants and donations from Bihar government and other sources to the tune of Rs 7.57 crore between 2011-12 and 2016-17, part of which he had “illegally misappropriated for personal benefit”.
“The shelter home, Balika Grih, Muzaffarpur, was not immune to rape, sexual abuse, sexual assault, physical assault of the girls. Accused Brajesh Thakur, having overall control of running Muzaffarpur shelter home along with other members of Balika Grih raped girls, perpetrated the crime of sexual abuse, sexual assault, physical assault on deprived and abandoned girl children,” the ED said in its provisional attachment order. The ED’s money laundering case was based on CBI and police chargesheet filed in the case earlier.
Huge funds were received by the NGO from the state government and other sources which were meant to be spent on welfare of girl children. Instead the accused siphoned off these funds for acquisition of properties and for personal use by Brajesh Thakur and his family members, the agency claimed.
The transaction trail further revealed that Thakur had illegally transferred Rs 1.54 crore from the NGO to his personal bank accounts. Some transfers were also made to the bank accounts of his wife and son for acquisition of properties.
The funds were also used for payment of fees for medical education of Thakur’s son Mehul Anand. Huge cash deposits were found in the bank accounts of Brajesh Thakur for which he failed to give satisfactory explanation.
“Investigation under PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) has established that Brajesh Thakur and his associates have illegally siphoned off funds meant for welfare activities and have illegally invested in acquisition of properties for personal benefits,” ED said.