Police attach absconding ex-minister’s properties

Police in Bihar yesterday began attaching properties owned by absconding former minister Manju Verma after a court order in an arms case connected to the Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse scandal.

“A property attachment notice was pasted on her residence and the police began the process,” a police official said.

Verma is facing arrest under the Arms Act following the recovery of 50 live cartridges from her residences in Patna and Begusarai during a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid. She has been absconding for the last three months. The Patna High Court has rejected her bail plea.

Last month a court in Begusarai had issued a warrant of arrest against her.

On Monday the minister’s husband Chandrasekhar Verma, who had been absconding for a month, surrendered before a court. He was then remanded to 14 days in judicial custody in connection to the shelter home case.

Manju Verma resigned on August 8 following allegations that Brajesh Thakur, the main accused in the Muzaffarpur case, had links to her husband. Of the 42 girls lodged at the shortstay home run by Thakur’s NGO, 34 were found to have been sexually assaulted.