Bihar, July 25: In a fresh development to Bihar's Muzaffarpur shelter home case, where NGO members had allegedly raped 22 girls sheltered there, seven female inmates from other shelter homes under the same NGO are reported missing.  As news broke out about the rapes, the police had started an in-depth inquiry into the issue. And during the course of the investigation, the police came across the missing cases. According to a news report in the Hindustan Times, the missing women's information surfaced after the state director of social welfare department Raj Kumar ordered its officers to supervise all the shelter homes run by Seva Sankalp Evam Vikas Samiti.

Kumar was quoted as saying, “During the course of the inquiry, we have found that seven inmates from the other shelter home they were running for destitute adult women were missing. The Muzaffarpur DM had shot off a letter to us apprising of the situation and seeking a direction in this regard." Besides this, the officer has also asked the team to lodge an FIR of the missing women in the case.

The Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harpreet Kaur, denied the news of the missing women, as claimed by the social welfare department. The SSP was quoted as saying, “I have personally inquired into the matter and have found that only four girls have been absconding since December 15, 2013. The Swadhar Home has been shut for nearly one year now. I have also got the address details of these girls and trying to verify the truth."

The alleged rape and murder in the shelter home caused a lot of controversies and had also created an uproar in the state assembly session a few days ago. The opposition party leader Tejaswi Yadav lambasted the government for being unable to provide safety to women. On his Twitter account, he tweeted that the main culprit Brijesh Thakur, under whom these shelter homes were operating, is rescued by the government since he has not been arrested despite the expose.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 25, 2018 06:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).