Muzaffarpur shelter home case: 35 suspected to be killed are alive

All 35 girls, who were suspected to have been killed at a shelter home in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, are alive, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court today. The probe agency has said it has completed investigation into the mass sex assault case at the shelter home that triggered massive outrage about two years ago.

Last year, the CBI had told the top court that Brajesh Thakur, a politically well-connected man who operated the shelter for several years, and his accomplices may have killed 11 girls, adding that it had recovered a "bundle of bones" in the shelter premises. Today, the CBI said that two skeletons of a man and a woman were recovered, adding that no evidence of murder of any minor had been found.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the probe agency, said that the children, who were alleged to be murdered, were later found to be alive. He said that the CBI has investigated cases of 17 shelter homes in Bihar and chargesheet has been filed in 13 of them while in four cases, the preliminary inquiry was conducted and later closed as no evidence was found.

In Muzaffarpur, young girls were forced to dance to vulgar songs, sedated and raped at the government-run shelter in a massive sex scandal with links to influential politicians and bureaucrats. More grisly details have been revealed in the chargesheet filed by the probe agency against Brajesh Thakur, the key accused in the case.