No kid killed in Muzaffarpur shelter, skeletons were of adults: CBI to SC

NEW DELHI: CBI on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the allegations of 11 children of Muzaffarpur shelter home being killed were found to be false as it did not find any evidence pointing to murder of any child after completing investigations against 17 such homes. The agency added that those missing had been traced.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for CBI, informed a bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant that two skeletons excavated were found to be of a woman and a man.He said all girls who went missing have been traced by the investigation agency. The investigation into murder charges was carried out after some of the rape survivors told the agency that some of the girls were killed by main accused Brajesh Thakur.
The agency said it found that children in 13 out of 17 shelter homes were subjected to torture and sexual abuse and chargesheet have been filed against the NGOs and their officials.
Advocate Shoeb Alam, appearing for petitioner Nivedita Jha, contended that the agency had not investigated all aspects including role of outsiders and officials who were involved in sexual assault on the inmates after administering them intoxicants and human trafficking.
In its earlier affidavit, CBI had said, "The victims during their examination in the presence of experts of NIMHANS had revealed names of 11 girls who were allegedly murdered by Brajesh Thakur and his accomplices.
These allegations are being duly investigated in the right earnest in the instant case by scrutinising the master register maintained at the Balikagrih to locate the bodies and through field level verification." The court, after a brief hearing, allowed him to file his reply on CBI's probe report and adjourned the hearing. It, however, allowed CBI's plea to relieve two officers - 1996 batch IPS officers Bhanu Bhaskar and Devendra Singh - from the investigation team.
The court had ordered CBI probe against shelter homes after cases of harassment and sexual abuse were reported in 17 of 110 shelter homes which were audited by Tata Institute of Social Sciences(TISS). The institute had put those homes under the category of "grave concern" and submitted report to state but no action was taken by the government against them till the Muzaffarpur case came to light.