Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Chinmayanand has been arrested by Uttar Pradesh police in Shahjahanpur rape case. He has been sent to 14 day judicial custody by a local court. According to Naveen Arora, Special Investigation Team Chief, “Swami Chinmayanand has admitted to almost every allegation levelled against him,including sexual conversations & body massage.Circumstantial evidences also being examined.He said he doesn’t want to say more as he's ashamed of his acts.” (ANI tweet).
The former union minister was accused of rape by a 23-year-old law student. The girl has claimed that she was sexually assaulted for a year and has been blackmailed. He was arrested around 8:50am from his residence at his Mumuksha Ashram in Shahjahanpur, his lawyer says. Later, he was taken to a Lucknow hospital for medical examination.
The politician runs several ashrams and educational institutions. A month after being charged with rape by the woman who filed a police complaint, he was roaming free until the SIT was put in place. The law student and her family had blamed the police for allegedly going soft on the BJP leader. Chinmayanand was the junior home minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
The arrest comes three days ahead of the Allahabad High Court hearing in the case. However, its not only rape charges the leader is allegedly accused of. He is also a target for extortion and threats. On 27 August, Chinmayanand was booked by the police for kidnapping or abducting. He was also accused of criminal intimidation of the IPC based on the complaint of the woman’s father. A special team set up by Uttar Pradesh police made his arrest.
The law student had gone missing on August 24 after posting a video on social media. In the video, she alleged a “senior leader of the seer community” was harassing and threatening to kill her. However, she kept the name hidden in the video, her father came out first and named Chinmayanand for allegedly raping and abducting his daughter. The Supreme Court stepped in after media reports about her disappearance. She was tracked down by the UP police six days later and produced before the Supreme Court, which ordered the Yogi Adityanath government to set up the special police team.
The investigative team has questioned more than 30 people over the last few days including classmates of the law student.
Chinmayanand has denied the allegations right from the beginning.
Feature image credit: News18
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