Begusarai | A court here on Wednesday rejected the bail application of former Bihar minister Manju Verma, who is in jail in connection with an Arms Act case.
The case was lodged by police last year following the recovery of a huge quantity of ammunition at her residence during a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal.
Additional District Judge Piyush Kamal Dixit turned down Verma’s plea, who has been in jail here since her surrender before a court on November 20, 2018.
Verma, who held the social welfare portfolio in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, had stepped down on August 6, 2018 after a number of media reports alleged that her husband Chandrashekhar Verma had close links with Brajesh Thakur – the prime accused in the shelter home scandal.
A few weeks later, the CBI raided her bungalow in Patna besides the ancestral home of her husband in Arjun Tola locality of Begusarai district, where 50 cartridges of different dimensions were found.
The CBI informed the Cheria Bariarpur Police Station of the recovery and an FIR was lodged against the couple under the Arms Act.
The husband-wife duo remained untraceable for long until Chandrashekhar Verma surrendered in the end of October.
The ex-minister, whose applications for anticipatory bail were rejected both by the lower court and the Patna High Court, surrendered shortly after.
The Supeme Court had pulled up the state police for its inability to nab her.
The police also submitted its charge sheet against the couple before a court on December 20.
The alleged sexual abuse of the inmates at the Balika Grih in Bihar came to light following a social audit by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).
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