Student who accused Chinmayanand of rape arrested for 'extortion'

The law student who had accused former BJP MP from Shahjahanpur Swami Chinmayanand of sexual harassment, was arrested by a special investigation team (SIT) on Wednesday (September 25) morning on charges of extorting money from him, Uttar Pradesh director general of police OP Singh said.

A Shahjahanpur court sent the law student to 14 days of judicial custody. The 23-year-old on Tuesday (September 24) was detained by the SIT for questioning in the extortion case.

Stating that the SIT made the arrest after getting enough evidence, its chief Naveen Arora said extortion money of ₹5 crore was demanded from Chinmayanand on direction of the student.

Also read: Former BJP MP Chinmayanand sent to judicial custody for 14 days 

The arrest comes a day after an additional district and sessions court admitted the anticipatory bail plea filed by the student. Although the court had posted the hearing for September 26, the SIT arrested the complainant on September 25.

The local court on Tuesday had rejected the bail plea of three other accused – Sanjay Sachin and Vikram – in the case, who were arrested on extortion charges filed by Swami Chinmayanand. The three were arrested on basis of a video clip which allegedly showed them discussing the extortion.

The SIT on Tuesday had taken Sachin and Vikram on remand for questioning into the extortion case.

SIT chief Naveen Arora had told the media that the three had accepted their involvement in the extortion case, although the law student had denied the charges. Police sources, according to an India Today report, said that the accused had told the SIT that they had thrown the mobile phone used in making the extortion demand, near Mehandipur Balaji in Rajasthan.

According to the report, the SIT team on Tuesday took Sachin and Vikram to the site for the recovery of the phone.

Also read: Chinmayanand: video leakage a conspiracy, says rape survivor’s father 

Earlier in the week, a division bench of the Allahabad High Court had rejected her anticipatory bail and had asked her to approach an appropriate court. Following this, the student’s lawyer had approached the additional district and sessions court which accepted the plea and directed that records related to the case should be summoned before it on September 26.

The law student through a video clip uploaded on social media last month had alleged that she was raped by Chinmayanand for more than a year. She had gone missing after posting the video, following which the Uttar Pradesh police had found her in Rajasthan.

Taking suo motu cognizance of the case, the Supreme Court on September 2 had asked a SIT team to investigate the case and ensure protection to the family of the complainant.

While appearing before the chief judicial magistrate, the woman had told the court that Chinmayanand sexually exploited her for a year after he helped her get admission into the law college run by him. She also accused him of filming her while she was taking a bath and raping her after blackmailing her with the video.

Based on the complainant’s statement the SIT had arrested Chinmayanand on September 20 from his residence after which he was sent to 14 days of judicial custody by a local court.