Doctor arrested for sedating girls at Bihar children’s home

As many as 34 girls were allegedly raped at the government-funded care home

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation yesterday arrested a doctor, amid investigations into a child sex abuse scandal in Bihar state.

The private medical practitioner, identified as Dr Ashwini Kumar, is being accused of administering sedatives to minor girls at a children’s home.

Kumar was arrested in the Kurhani block of Muzaffarpur district after the needle of suspicion moved towards his role in the care home rape scandal.

As many as 34 girls were allegedly raped at the government-funded care home being run by a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Large haul recovered

It is alleged the doctor had close links with the NGO chief, Brajesh Thakur, the prime accused in the case who is being held in custody at the high-security Patiala jail in Punjab.

Dr Kumar would visit the care home in the name of medical check-ups of the girls and would inject sedatives into their bodies. The arrest comes after a large amount of sedatives was recovered from the care home during investigations.

“It’s quite possible that several girls were sexually abused after being injected sedatives,” an unnamed CBI official told local media yesterday.

This is the second big arrest for the CBI in the girls’ sex abuse case. On Tuesday, investigators took into custody NGO official Madhu Kumari, who is accused of grooming the minors to become sex slaves.

“We have found during investigations that Madhu was involved in teaching children how to have sex,” a CBI official was quoted as saying.