New Delhi, January 8: In a sensational twist to Muzaffarpur shelter home case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court that 35 girls who were suspected to be killed at a shelter in Bihar are alive. Representing CBI, Attorney General KK Venugopal said that the central agency investigated allegations of murders but all the inmates are alive. Muzaffarpur Shelter Home Case: Delhi Court Frames Charges Against 21 Accused.

Last year, the central agency told the apex court that Brajesh Thakur, who ran the shelter, and his aides may have murdered 11 girls. The CBI had also told that it found "bundle of bones". However, on January 8, the agency said that skeletons recovered were of a man and a woman.

Venugopal said the CBI traced the 35 girls who were alleged to be murdered and found them alive. He told the bench that the probe was carried out on allegations of rape and sexual assault of children and charge sheets have been filed before the courts concerned.

The attorney general said the CBI has investigated cases of 17 shelter homes in Bihar and charge sheets have been filed in 13 of them, while four cases were closed when after preliminary enquiry no evidence of any wrongdoing was found.

Several girls were allegedly sexually and physically assaulted at the shelter home run by an NGO in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. The issue had come to light following a report by TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences). Following the report, a petition was filed in the apex court seeking lodging of an FIR and court-monitored probe by an independent agency into the allegations.

(With PTI Inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 08, 2020 06:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).