Another Muzaffarpur? Two deaths in Patna shelter-home raise suspicion
What's the story
Weeks after the Muzaffarpur shelter sex scandal shook the entire nation, deaths of two women in another shelter-home of Patna have raised suspicion. On Friday, two women- a 40-year-old and an 18-year-old, staying at 'Aasra Grih' in Rajiv Nagar locality died at Patna Medical College, which prompted an investigation and pointed towards another sex scam. Here are details about this shocking case.
The deaths
After women died, shelter home did last rites in jiffy
The shelter home is run by NGO Anumanya Human Resource Foundation and is meant for women with psychological disorders. The inmates who died were apparently suffering from diarrhoea and fever. The authorities of the shelter home didn't inform police or social department and hurriedly did last rites of one of them. However, the police then stepped in and decided to do the autopsy of the other inmate.
Revelations
Neighbors tell police they heard women screaming
The police arrested socialite Manisha Dayal, the NGO owner and Chirantan Kumar, coordinator, for hiding facts and negligence. Notably, the shelter home started in May. After the arrests, neighbors told police about fishy happenings in the home. One said they heard women screaming at nights, and another said SUVs frequented the home during late hours. Locals claimed women were prohibited from mingling with them.
Quote
SUVs stopped at shelter home during midnight, tells local
"We often used to see SUVs stopping at the shelter home during midnight and in wee hours. Many times, we saw the shelter home women being taken away in the cars late in the night and dropped back in the wee hours," a neighbor said.
What happened
Few days ago, four women tried escaping the home
Recently, four women tried escaping by cutting the grill with a saw, but they were caught. The NGO didn't inform police about this either. But police interrogated them after locals gave the details. Girls told them one Nagina Singh alias Banarsi had given them the saw. On the other hand, the shelter home's authorities said Banarsi had ulterior motives behind this rescue.
The defense
Women screamed as they were suffering from disorders, says accused
Meanwhile, Chiranatan Kumar rubbished the allegations of locals about people visiting at night. He maintained only doctors came to the three-storeyed home. "Since it is a home for women with psychological disorders they often kept unwell and screamed during odd hours," Kumar said. He cried conspiracy and said the department and Brajesh Thakur (key accused in Muzaffarpur case) were framing them.