Brajesh Thakur (Muzaffarpur Shelter Case) Wiki, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Brajesh Thakur is a former Indian journalist and politician. He is the main accused in the infamous Muzaffarpur Shelter Home Rape Case (2018).

Wiki/Biography

Brajesh Thakur was born on Monday, 4 November 1968 (age 55 years; as of 2023) in Village Pachdahi, Madhubani, Bihar. His zodiac sign is Scorpio.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 7″

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Brown

Family

Brajesh Thakur belongs to a Bhumihar Hindu family. ^[1]BBC Hindi

Parents & Siblings

His father, Radha Mohan Thakur, was a teacher at the Hari Narayan Government Primary School on Club Road in Muzaffarpur. Brajesh’s father started a newspaper named Pratah Kamal in 1982. His father was also the chairman of All India Small and Medium News Papers Society and was once arrested in a newsprint scam. His mother, Manorama Devi, was a health worker (Auxiliary nurse midwife) in a village. He has a younger brother named Rajesh Thakur.

Wife & Children

His wife, Kumari Asha, worked as a teacher at R S College, Muzaffarpur. His son, Rahul Anand, is the editor of the Hindi newspaper Pratah Kamal, and he also contested the Zilla Parishad elections in 2016. His daughter, Nikita Anand, is the editor of English daily News Next.

Career

Journalist

In 1982, his father started a Hindi newspaper named Pratah Kamal. When he grew up, he joined his father’s newspaper printing press. After his father’s demise, he got ownership of the newspaper and started working as an editor and publisher of the newspaper.

With the newspaper advertisements, he used to make big profits. In 2012, he started an English newspaper News Nest and an Urdu newspaper Haalat-e-Bihar. Later, he got a Press Information Bureau accreditation. ^[2]The Economic Times

Politician

While working as a newspaper editor, he developed good relations with various politicians. In 1993, he joined the Indian politician Anand Mohan’s party Bihar People’s Party. In 1995, Brajesh contested assembly elections from Kurhani assembly seat of Muzaffarpur. He got only 202 votes and lost by a huge margin to RJD candidate Basavan Bhagat. In 2000, he again contested assembly elections from Kurhani. He got 32,795 votes and lost against Basavan Bhagat who got 48,343 votes. In 2018, after his arrest in Muzaffarpur Shelter Home Rape Case, he said he had planned to join Congress.

Muzaffarpur Shelter Home Rape Case

Brajesh Thakur had started various NGOs in Muzaffarpur including Balika Griha (started in 2013) which was adjoining his newspaper press. In November 2017, a female government official visited the NGO for a survey, and in front of her, the girls living in the home shelter started crying. The female official suspected that something was wrong there, and in her survey report, she even requested the Bihar government to take some action to identify the problem there, but due to Brajesh’s political influence, her report was neglected.

Discovery of the Crime

In March 2018, while a team of the ‘Koshish Project’ of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai (led by Mohd Tarique) was in Bihar for a social audit of shelter homes, they visited Balika Griha Muzaffarpur owned by Brajesh Thakur. The team asked the staff of the shelter home to let them talk to girls in private. The girls in the shelter home took advantage of this opportunity and shared all their ill experiences in the shelter home. The girls said that they were sexually abused by Brajesh Thakur and a few other men in the shelter home. They even shared that a few politicians and a few ladies were also involved in the crime. The team of TISS submitted their report to the Bihar government in May 2018 in which they mentioned that the girls in the shelter home were being sexually abused.

However, in the same year, lakhs of funds were allocated to Brajesh Thakur by the Bihar government for Brajesh’s NGOs and the report of TISS was also neglected. Within a few months of the TISS survey, a girl of the Balika Grah went missing and a missing FIR was filed in the local police station. Some nearby people claimed that the NGO people killed the girl and buried her near the shelter home. During the investigation, a few girls in the shelter home talked to a local newspaper about the sexual abuse in the shelter home. The team of TISS also came into the media and talked about the reports they had submitted to the Bihar Government. The media houses then started putting pressure on the Bihar Government to take some action and review the TISS report. The Bihar Government then reviewed the reports, and on 25 May 2018, around 42 girls were immediately rescued from the shelter home and were shifted to the shelter homes of Madhubani, Patna, and Mokama.

The statements of the 42 girls were recorded infront of the magistrate, and they were medically examined at Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH). According to one of the victims,

Brijesh killed one girl and put her in a tank. Brijesh through (two other victims) and Meenu Aunty got a mentally challenged girl killed. Brijesh had told them, “If you don’t kill her, I will kill you.” Brijesh killed her by stepping on her neck and (the two others) and Meenu had held her limbs. After the death, Meenu Aunty had her thrown into a gunny bag. I saw through a window. If someone asked, it was told that a dog has died.”

Out of 42 girls, the sexual abuse of 34 girls and abortion by a few girls was confirmed. A few girls were missing from the shelter and it was said that the girls were buried in NGO premises.

Based on the statements, an FIR against Brajesh Thakur and 11 other accused were registered by local police on 31 May 2018. On 2 August 2018, the Supreme Court of India took a Suo Moto cognizance (it means when the courts in India take a case on their own) of the case. On 14 June 2018, Bihar’s Women and Child Development Ministry sealed the shelter home. Later, the case was transferred to CBI.

Arrests in the Case

In June 2018, Brajesh Thakur was arrested as the main accused in the case. Later ten more people were arrested in the case i.e;

Brajesh Thakur: He was the owner of the shelter home and was accused of raping the girls in the shelter home.

Shaista Parveen alias Madhu: She was managing the NGO Seva Sankalp and Vikas Samiti. She used to force girls to wear revealing clothes and dance to adult songs.

Ravi Kumar Roshan: He was the Child Protection Officer (CPO) and was accused of rape.

Vikas Kumar: He was one of the members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). He used to give sleeping pills to the girls and was accused of sexual abuse.

Dilip Kumar Verma: He was the chairman of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and was also accused of sexual abuse.

Rosie Rani: She was the assistant director of the Child Protection Unit, and even when girls told her about their sufferings, she did not take action and supported Brajesh Thakur.

Dr. Prameela: She was a doctor and used to conduct medical checkups of the girls. Even after knowing everything, she used to give medicines to girls to get relief from pain.

Ramashankar Singh aka Master Saheb: He was the manager of the newspaper press owned by Brajesh. He used to beat girls and sexually abuse them.

Dr. Ashwani alias Asmani: He was another doctor of girls and used to traumatise them.

Vijay Kumar Tiwari, Guddu, and Krishna Ram: They were servants of Brajesh and were involved in the sexual abuse of girls.

Indu Kumari, Meenu Devi, Chanda Devi, Neha Kumari, Hema Masih, and Kiran Kumari: They were employees of the shelter home and were accused of drugging the girls and assaulting them.

Manju Verma: Manju Verma (a politician) was accused of supporting Brajesh as her husband was one of the men involved in the sexual abuse of girls. She resigned from the post of Minister of Social Welfare in Bihar on 8 August 2018.

Verdict in the Case

In February 2019, the CBI requested the Supreme Court to transfer the case from a local court to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court at Saket District Court in Delhi. Supreme Court even directed the POCSO court to conclude the trial within six months. In the 1546-page judgement, the POCSO court sentenced life imprisonment to Brajesh for offences under Indian Penal Code sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and those relating to abetment, Section 21 (failure to report the commission of an offence) of the POCSO Act and Section 75 (cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice Act.”

Aftermath

A rage among people started against the NGO owners and the Bihar government. People started organising candle marches to support the victim girls. The opposition parties also supported the protests.

Later, while Brajesh Thakur was in a court premises for his hearing, a woman threw black ink on his face.

In Popular Media

In 2023, the first look of the Hindi film titled ‘Nafisa’ based on the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case was released.

In February 2024, a Netflix film titled ‘Bhakshak’ was released based on the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case. The role of Brajesh Thakur was portrayed by the Indian actor Aditya Srivastava (famous as Senior Inspector Abhijeet in the TV show CID).

Car Collection

In 2018, he had two SUVs with VIP numbers including a Fortuner. ^[3]The Indian Express

Assets & Properties

• Residential buildings in Palam (Delhi), Samastipur, Darbhanga, Motihari, Patna, Muzaffarpur

• Three-storey building house adjoining newspaper office

• Eleven NGOs including Seva Sankalp, Vikas Samiti, Vama Shakti Vahini, and Balika Griha
  

  Vama Shakti Vahini owned by Brajesh Thakur

• RM Palace Hotel in Muzaffarpur
  

  RM Palace owned by Brajesh Thakur

• Ten bighas of agricultural land at Patahi in Samastipur

• Twenty acres of agricultural land in his native village Pachdahi (Muzaffarpur)

Note: The given estimates of the assets are according to the year 2018. ^[4]News 18

Income/Salary

In 2018, he used to earn Rs 3 crore a year. ^[5]YouTube – India Today He used to get a salary of Rs 18000 for working in Pratah Kamal. ^[6]YouTube – India Today

Facts/Trivia

• The victim girls of his home shelter used to call him ‘Hunter Wale Uncle’ as he used to hit the girls with Hunter when they refused to agree to his demands. ^[7]India Today

• According to an investigation by a leading media house, it was discovered that his father’s newspaper Pratah Kamal used to sell 300 copies a day. However, they claimed that they sold more than 60,000 copies of newspapers daily. It was also reported that his newspaper house used to get Rs 40 lakh annually from the government for advertisements. ^[8]The Indian Express

• Reportedly, in 2005, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar attended the birthday party of Brajesh’s son Rahul Anand. His photographs with various leading politicians were recovered from his home during the investigation.
  

  Brajesh Thakur with Dilmani Devi

• In 2018, after his arrest in the home shelter rape case, he said,
  

  I was thinking of joining the Congress and it was almost final that I will contest elections from Muzaffarpur. That is the reason why I have been unnecessarily framed in the case. None of the girls (inmates of the shelter home) has taken my name. You can check that yourself.”