Muzaffarpur shelter home case: Accused claims witnesses unreliable, misled court

The CBI had investigated cases of 17 shelter homes in Bihar and chargesheets had been filed in 13 of them. Four cases were closed as no evidence of wrongdoing was found after preliminary enquiry.

Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshreshtha issued notice to the CBI to file a reply to the application within two days and set the date of judgment to January 20.

The application stated that the “witnesses are both unreliable and untrustworthy and they have misled not only the investigation agency but also this court”.

Thakur told the court that the “case set up by the prosecution witnesses is false, fabricated and concocted” and the new facts were not available with him during the trial and therefore could not have been placed before the court. He told the court that “grave prejudice and irreparable loss will be caused to him if the final judgment is passed without taking into the account the aforementioned facts”.

The Supreme Court had ordered transfer of the case from Bihar to a POCSO court in Saket District Court complex in Delhi.