Jamshedpur shelter home bank account blocked, no trace of missing girls and accused
The East Singhbhum district administration has directed bank authorities to freeze the account of Mother Teresa Welfare Trust (MTWT) children’s home, officials said on Tuesday
The East Singhbhum district administration has directed bank authorities to freeze the account of Mother Teresa Welfare Trust (MTWT) children’s home, officials said on Tuesday.
The shelter home at Kharanghjar under Telco police station of the district is currently under investigation for alleged sexual abuse, mental and physical torture of its minor inmates.
“As per the deputy commissioner’s order, I have asked branch manager of Kharanghjar branch of Punjab National Bank to block and freeze the shelter home’s account with immediate effect, as the NGO is presently under investigation for exploitation of children,” Parameshwar Bhagat, Jamshedpur deputy development commissioner (DDC), said.
The bank authorities on Tuesday also provided the account transaction details to Jyotsna Singh, National Employment Programme (NEP) director heading the 11-member district level probe committee formed by the DC to investigate the case.
Earlier on June 7, a first information report (FIR) was filed under Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and Indian Penal Code against MTWT director Harpal Singh Thapar, his child welfare committee (CWC) chief wife Pushpa Rani Tirkey, warden Geeta Singh, her son Aditya Singh and another staff Tony Davis after two rescued minor girls accused Thapar and others of sexual abuse, physical and mental torture of girls at the home for past four years. The two girls were rescued by police from Birsanagar on June 6. All the five accuses have been absconding since then, police said.
Later on June 11, two more girls went missing from the shelter home during time shifting of 41 inmates to another children home in Patamda. It was also found that accused Aditya Singh was also mentioned in the list of MTWT inmates. Search was still on for these two missing girls and the five named accused.
“We are examining the bank transactions of MTWT and sought details about all child care institutes (CCIs) run by private NGOs in the district from East Singhbhum district CWC about process of registration, how they got to keep the rescued children and the whereabouts and family details of all the children,” said Singh.
As per sources, the district presently has nine registered private CCIs, while nine others have applied for registration with the state government.
BJP district spokesperson Ankit Anand thanked DC Suraj Kumar for prompt action on his tweet sharing account details of MTWT director on Sunday.
Meanwhile, investigation has also started into alleged illegal construction and encroachment in Shamsher Tower housing the MTWT shelter home.
A team of the CO’s office has collected the account and plot numbers of the building, map, building plan and drawing after visiting Shamsher Tower Monday. They have also summoned Pritpal Singh, the builder of the tower. Locals alleged that the builder’s office on the ground floor of Shamsher Tower was also forcibly closed by the Thapar couple, apart from opening a back door illegally and encroaching flats and open spaces in the residential complex.