Law student, who accused Chinmayanand of rape, among 4 booked for extortion

Shahjahanpur (UP), September 21 

A law student, who accused BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of rape, and her three friends were booked for extortion by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Sources said the SIT also booked the woman on charges of causing disappearance of evidence. The former Union minister was arrested by the SIT on Friday and sent to 14 days’ judicial custody.

According to Om Singh, the counsel of Chinmayanad, they could not approach the court for bail on Saturday as local advocates were on strike demanding that Shahjahanpur be attached with Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.

The sources said the SIT had on Friday registered a case against the woman’s three friends—Sanjay Singh, Sachin Sengar, Vikram alias Durgesh—and an unnamed person (Ms A). 

They said the unnamed person was the law student herself, but they had not disclosed her identity in view of the Supreme Court guidelines. 

SIT chief Naveen Arora had on Friday said that the three friends, when questioned in view of a video clip in which they were purportedly discussing extortion, had accepted their involvement in the case.

They have been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 385 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (disappearance of evidences), 35 (criminal act done with a criminal knowledge or intention) and 67 of the Information Technology Act.

The three men were arrested by the SIT.

On her name being included in the extortion case, the woman said, “I do not know if the people who helped me escape from Chinmayanand were using me. I have nothing to do with the extortion case. I think all this drama is being done to dilute my charges of rape.”

Meanwhile, Jail Superintendent Rakesh Kumar said the former Union minister has not been given any special facility in prison and he spent his first night as a common inmate in a barrack.

“He had food in the afternoon and on night Friday and he went for sleep around 10.30 pm. He got up 3.30 pm on Saturday morning and meditated for about an hour, besides taking a walk in the barrack,” Kumar said. 

After his arrest, Chinmayanad had apparently told the SIT he was sorry for his behaviour.

“When you have come to know everything, I have nothing to say. I accept my crime and I am very sorry for this act,” the BJP leader was quoted as saying by the SIT chief.

But the student had indicated that she was not satisfied with the charges under which he was arrested. “It is an attempt to weaken the case against him,” she told reporters.

The case is being investigated by SIT formed by the Uttar Pradesh police on the directions of the Supreme Court. — PTI