Muzaffarpur rapes: Brajesh Thakur denies involvement; minister Manju Verma resigns 

The main accused in the Bihar shelter home horror case, Brajesh Thakur, who is in jail, on Wednesday denied any involvement in the rape of 34 minor girls in the welfare facility in Muzaffarpur, and added that he was being framed.

He said it was a “conspiracy” and he has no relation with Bihar Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma. He said he was innocent.

"A conspiracy was hatched against me as I wanted to join the Congress and wished to fight from the Muzaffarpur seat," Thakur told the media here when he along with the other accused in the case was being taken from the jail to be produced in a court.

This was the first time that Thakur has spoken since the horror surfaced in the shelter home that was run by him.

He was produced in the district court under tight security. "I am not at all involved in the case," he said.

A group of women blackened Thakur's face when he was coming out of the court. One of the women was detained. She belongs to the Jan Adhikar Party, a police officer said.

Thakur also denied reports that he was close to Manju Verma. "I have no relationship with Manju Verma," he said.

He also refuted a relationship with Madhu Kumar, an accused in the case, who is absconding after the police filed an FIR.

Thakur claimed that none of the victims (girls) of the shelter home have made any statement against him.

The Patna High Court is monitoring the ongoing CBI investigation into the case.

Meanwhile, Bihar Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma on Wednesday handed over her resignation to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar amidst the uproar over the case.

Verma met the chief minister and handed over her resignation to him, sources in the Chief Minister's Office said in Patna.

The minister has been in the eye of the storm after name of her husband surfaced in the case of sexual abuse of girls at state-funded Muzaffarpur shelter home. The Muzaffarpur case came to light when the Bihar Social Welfare Department filed an FIR based on a social audit of the shelter home conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

With agency inputs