To get work done, Thakur used fake news to blackmail babus
NEW DELHI: In a startling revelation it has come to notice that Brijesh Thakur, the mastermind in Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case, used to ‘blackmail’ government officials, including officials in judiciary, by publishing fake and cooked-up reports in his
locally-published Pratah Kamal newspaper to get government contracts as per his own terms and conditions.
The revelation in this regard has been made in the order of a vigilance judge dated July 20, 2012. According to the order, which is in the possession of Millennium Post, the court of Arun Kumar Singh, the then special vigilance judge Muzaffarpur, had issued a warning to Thakur’s Hindi publication Pratah Kamal for indulging in the act of maligning the court by getting false petitions with motivated allegations filed through a select group of
lawyers.
The court had also warned the advocate Pankaj Kumar, who had represented the paper in the court. Surprisingly, the whole modus operandi came to light after the team of advocates sponsored by
Thakur filed a petition against the judge himself, who had rejected some of the ‘motivated’ petitions filed by Kumar and his team.
The judge, in his order, had pointed about the operation of a well-organised extortion racket in Muzaffarpur civil court. The racket was being run by a few lawyers and others who used to file cases in courts for extortion of money. The judge in his order also stated that the cases were left abandoned after the objective behind filing the case was ‘achieved’.
The judge, in his order, had observed, “When the vigilance power was entrusted in me, I was surprised to find that several hundred complaint cases (vigilance) are left abandoned and pending without any reason or pressure, resulting in their obvious dismissal.”
In one of the petitions filed by Thakur’s coterie, the judge was charged with taking a huge amount through Ashok Kumar Chauhan, the then vigilance commissioner, on a false affidavit.
“An attempt was also made to scandalise a pious institution like judiciary through print and electronic media. Therefore, it is necessary to take immediate action against Pankaj Kumar and Brajesh Thakur and the official complaint to be sent to the court of chief judicial magistrate for proceeding against them,” the judge had observed.
Notably, the aggrieved judge also brought the whole matter into the notice of Patna High Court and sought guidelines on it. On the matter, the Patna HC had asked vigilance judge to work “fearlessly and according to the provisions of the law”.
“Several inquiries were also conducted by a registrar, the vigilance of the Patna High Court, who was apprised about the facts and situation through confidential letters. All the motivated allegations were found false, fake and fabricated. However, all the allegations were again mentioned in a new complaint case using a new face in the form of complainant Pankaj Kumar,” the judge had observed in his order.
According to media reports, Brajesh Thakur, the kingpin in Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case, was found resting in a hospital ward and not an actual jail room.
Thakur has been in that hospital ward for the last 40 days. It was on June 27 that Thakur was shifted from Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur to jail. He was arrested on June 2 and for close to three weeks he was resting in the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital.