Ex-Bihar minister Madhu Varma, doctor who 'injected drugs' sent to CBI remand for 5 days

PATNA: Former Bihar minister Madhu Varma and Dr Ashwini Kumar were sent to CBI remand for five days by a local court on Wednesday. 

Varma, who had been absconding for nearly three months in the Arms Act case, surrendered in the Manjhaul sub-division court of Begusarai district on Tuesday. The Supreme Court had earlier slammed Bihar Police for its failure to arrest her. 

Fifty live cartridges were recovered from her residences in Patna and Begusarai during a Central Bureau of Investigation raid conducted in connection to the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case. Varma's husband also had close links with Brajesh Thakur, the main accused of the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case.

Dr Ashwini Kumar along with Shaista Parveen alias Madhu – both close aides of Thakur – were arrested by the CBI on Tuesday.

Kumar, a doctor, allegedly used to administer sedative injections to minor girls of the shelter home who were sexually abused. 

Over 40 girls residing at the Children Home at Sahu Road, Muzaffarpur, were sexually abused for years.

The matter had come to light earlier this year when the Bihar Social Welfare Department filed an FIR based on a social audit of the shelter home conducted by Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

The audit report stated that many girls at the shelter home had complained of sexual abuse.  

With agency inputs