A role of a Surat-based networking company, with branches in Bihar, has come under the scanner after the arrest of two persons in Muzaffarpur on a sexual assault complaint.
The initial police probe into the incident now hints at a larger job racket involving the Gujrat firm.
On June 2, the Muzaffarpur Police lodged an FIR against nine office bearers of DBR Unique, a herbal product-cum-networking company — on allegations of cheating, illegal detention and sexual abuse. Two persons were arrested.
Muzaffarpur City SP Awadhesh Dikshit said, “So far, we have arrested two people — Tilak Kumar Singh, named in the FIR, and Ajay Pratap, who is not named in the FIR. Both of them are employees of DBR Unique, a Surat-headquartered company. While Tilak has been arrested on charges of sexual assault, Ajay has been held for beating up a girl at the company’s office in Muzaffarpur.”
Police said between 2022 and 2023, at least four FIRs had been lodged against the company in Bihar’s Hajipur district for allegedly duping people – both men and women – by getting them to pay for jobs.
The complainant in the latest case, a 23-year-old from Saran district, alleged she and dozens of other girls had been sexually abused at the Muzaffarpur and Hajipur hostels for employees of DBR Unique since August 2022. The company is headed by Manish Sinha alias Manish Kumar, a resident of Gopalganj, and has branches across Bihar, including Muzaffarpur, Hajipur (Vaishali), East Champaran and Gopalganj.
Besides the complainant, two witnesses have accused the company’s office bearers of taking money after promising them jobs. On February 20, the complainant moved the Muzaffarpur court alleging that she had faced sexual abuse and three abortions over the last two-and-a-half years. According to her complaint, she joined the company’s Muzaffarpur office in August 2022 after depositing Rs 20,000 on assurance that she would get a monthly salary of Rs25,000. When she got no salary for three months, she followed this up with her seniors who allegedly told her she would get a monthly salary of Rs 50,000 along with bonus if she connected the company with 50 job aspirants. She alleged that Tilak Kumar Singh promised her marriage and forced her into establishing physical relations with him.
The FIR cites two other witnesses — a 21-year-old from Minapur and a 22-year-old from Saran — who have alleged they were beaten up by officials of the company. DBR Unique, which is classified as a non-government company and is registered at the Registrar of Companies, Ahmedabad, has Manish Sinha as its only director. Police said raids were conducted in Bihar and a team might be sent to Noida soon to track down Manish.
On May 14 last year, a sexual abuse case against a woman from Dumka, Jharkhand, had been filed against the same company officials at Raxaul in East Champaran. The FIR, based on a complaint by the woman’s mother, read, “On May 4, 2023, my daughter was hired by DBR Unique company at Raxual … After she started working with the company, I was not allowed to talk to her. On 10 May, my daughter called me from her friend’s number to say that she was being sexually abused by four people from the company.”
The Raxual Police rescued the girl and booked five people for sexual assault, illegal detention and torture under IPC sections and also under provisions of the SC/ST Act.
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