The Allahabad High Court will monitor the investigation into alleged sex racket in the Deoria shelter home. The court, while fixing August 13 as the next date of hearing, directed CBI counsel Gyan Prakash and Additional Advocate General Neeraj Tripathi to ensure that the copy of the statement of all girls of shelter home be placed before it on the next date of hearing and a responsible officer investigating the case should remain present in court.
The court sought information from the counsel whether any CCTVs were installed in or around the shelter home and also about owners of the cars in which minor girls used to leave the shelter home at night as per several media reports.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma, passed the order while taking a suo motu cognisance of various media reports published in several newspapers regarding the alleged sex racket running from a Deoria shelter home and girls missing from there.
The State Government on Wednesday informed the court that it had sent a letter to the Home Ministry to transfer the investigation into the case to CBI.
AAG Neeraj Tripathi, during the course of hearing, said that State Government had immediately transferred the case to the CBI. Further, then DM of Deoria was immediately transferred to ensure fair investigation.
The bench on the running of shelter home in spite of being blacklisted, said: “It seems the owners had got patronage of some politicians or VIPs. The girls were being shifted to the shelter home and no actions were taken against managers of the shelter home though several complaints in this regard were received by the district administration from time to time.”
The alleged incident of the abuse of minor girls and the sex racket came to light last Sunday when the police raided the Deoria shelter home and took away the girls.