Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said if someone related to the state’s social welfare minister Kumari Manju Verma is found involved in the ongoing CBI inquiry in the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case , he/she would not be spared.

Verma is in the eye of a storm after wife of a jailed child protection officer alleged that the minister’s husband used to visit the shelter home’s upper floor (where girls were living) after asking the accompanying officers to stay at the ground floor. Leaders of different opposition parties and a section of BJP leaders have demanded Verma’s resignation over alleged involvement of her husband in the case and her department’s delaying attitude in reporting the matter to police even after submission of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences’ (TISS) social audit report.

“We had called her (Verma) and she denied her involvement in the case. A CBI probe is going on. If someone related to the minister is found involved in the matter, he/she would not be spared. No one will be spared. Even the minister, if found involved in the probe, will not be spared,” Nitish told reporters after his weekly ‘Lok Samvad’ progrmame here.

Defending Verma, the CM also asked why such questions on the minister being raised at a time when the CBI investigation still going on. Let the investigating agency do its job. “Is it justified to level baseless allegations against any person?” he quipped.

Admitting that the Muzaffarpur incident happened due to “flaw in the system”, CM further declared that henceforth no non-government organisation (NGO) would be allowed to run any type of shelter homes in Bihar. “Now, shelter homes will be run by the government employees in the government-owned or government-hired buildings,” he said.

“During review it was found that the wrongdoings were committed by the NGO. There are some flaws in the system. We have asked officers to check those flaws. Now, only government employees will be involved in running shelter homes for having a better control,” Nitish said.

