The two main accused in the Patna shelter home death case, Manisha Dayal and her associate Chirantan Kumar, have been remanded to police custody for three days.
The duo was arrested after two women died in Aasara shelter home, run by an NGO Anumaya Human Resource Foundation. Manisha is director of the NGO.
Like the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape accused Brajesh Thakur, Manisha, too, was associated with numerous NGOs and led a glamorous lifestyle.
She unabashedly flaunted her connections with the powers-that-be and posed with leaders of all hues. Be it JD(U) legislator Shyam Rajak, BJP minister Vinod Narayan Jha, Education Minister Krishnandan Verma or former RJD minister Sheo Chandra Ram.
In Page 3 parties held in Patna, she would often pose with top bureaucrats’ wives and top cops. Any news regarding her would get published on the front page of ‘Pratah Kamal’, the newspaper run by Brajesh Thakur in Muzaffarpur.
Born into a middle-class family in Gaya, Manisha completed her intermediate in 1995 and came to Patna to pursue MBBS. However, due to personal reasons, she gave up the idea of becoming a doctor and discontinued her studies. Manisha married a businessman Jeevan Verma in 1996.
After marriage, she completed her BCom and then studied management. Since 2009, she has been working with several NGOs. Till a few years ago, she worked with NGOs like Aatma Foundation, Bhama Shah Foundation and Sparsh de-addiction Centre. She also served as project manager of Astitva Foundation.
Her meteoric rise was witnessed after she organised a major sports event - Cricket Corporate League (CCL) in Bihar. “Success won’t come to you. You have to go an extra mile to achieve success,” was Manisha's mantra. Her rags-to-riches story became a Page 3 folktale.
Manisha and Kumar have been booked under Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 304 A (causing death by negligence), Section 406 (criminal breach of trust), Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and Section 420 (cheating).
“We are seriously mulling over the proposal to completely disassociate all the NGOs from managing shelter homes in Bihar,” said Krishnandan Verma.
Ironically, Krishnandan, who holds the additional charge of social welfare department after Manju Verma quit, has also been caught on camera with Manisha.
“Whenever we attend any function, we politicians are asked to pose. We cannot verify the antecedents of the people who want a picture with us,” said senior JD(U) leader Shyam Rajak.
“In the Patna shelter home case, the law will take its course and the guilty will not be spared,” he added.