A Delhi court on Monday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to appoint a special public prosecutor in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual assault case in the next two days, PTI reported. Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Kulshrestha scheduled the next hearing for February 27.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had transferred the trial to a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences court in Delhi’s Saket and ordered it to complete the trial within six months. The court had also criticised the Bihar government’s management of shelter homes.

On February 12, the top court held M Nageswara Rao, former interim director of the CBI, and another senior CBI official guilty of contempt for the transfer of an agency officer investigating the case.

The alleged sexual exploitation of children at the shelter came to light in April 2018 after Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences submitted an audit report of 110 shelter homes in Bihar. The audit had been ordered by the state government, which filed a first information report against 11 people on May 31.

At least 34 inmates were allegedly drugged and raped, according to law enforcement agencies. The Central Bureau of Investigation – in it chargesheet filed in December – alleged that the main accused, Brajesh Thakur, had coerced girls to dance to vulgar songs and have sexual intercourse with guests. Thakur is currently lodged in a high-security prison in Punjab.