Former MP Booked For Abducting Girl Who Accused Him Of Abuse

UP Police has filed a complaint against three-time MP and former Minister of State Home, Chinmayanand in the case of abduction of a law student who was studying in the college he is the director of. The girl had shared a video on Facebook accusing him of allegedly exploiting her and of threatening to kill her. After posting the video on Friday, the girl went missing a day after. The girl’s father has filed a written complaint against the BJP leader for sexually harassing her but Chinmayanand’s lawyer has denied this charge calling it a ‘conspiracy’ to blackmail him.

The law student, who is pursuing LLM from SS Law College in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur, released a video that went viral on social media on August 24.

“We have registered an FIR against former minister Swami Chinmayanand and we have already deployed police teams to track the accused and recover the girl. The hostel room will also be seized and the girl’s records check. We have provided security to the girl's family to ensure that they are not threatened by the accused,” SSP S Channappa told TOI.

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The law student, who is pursuing LLM from SS Law College in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur, released a video that went viral on social media on August 24. In the video, she claims to have evidence against him. “I request Modi Ji and Yogi Ji to please help me. He has even threatened to kill my family. Only I know what I have been going through. Modi Ji, please help me, he is a sanyasi and is threatening that the police, DM and everyone else is on his side and no one can harm him. I request you all for justice,” the girl cries in the video.

The student's father on Tuesday alleged that it is because of Chinmayanand that his daughter has gone missing. However, Chinmayanand’s lawyer denies all charges against him saying, “There is not an iota of truth in their claims.”

Chinmayanand has been booked under Sections 364 (kidnapping or abduction with the purpose of murder) and 506 (Criminal intimidation).

“On August 22, Swami Chinmayanand got a WhatsApp message on his phone from an unknown number. The message said that if you do not give rupees five crore by this evening, then I will make videos viral on news channels. And do not try to act smart, as I have nothing to lose, but your reputation will be lost. Hence, make arrangements to give Rs 5 crore,” he added, Outlook reported.

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He stated that the police has taken cognizance of the message and started investigating into the matter. “I was of the view that media should be made aware of this issue, but the police told me not to do so, as the matter seemed to be big and there was a possibility of it being a racket. (The police said) if you go public with it, then the racketeers may become alert, and it will be rather difficult to arrest them,” he said.

“We have registered an FIR against former minister Swami Chinmayanand and we have already deployed police teams to track the accused and recover the girl. The hostel room will also be seized and the girl’s records check. We have provided security to the girl's family to ensure that they are not threatened by the accused.” - SSP S Channappa

He also alleged a connection between the extortion message and the video as he said that on August 24 night, he went to the Shahjahanpur police station to register a complaint. “It was registered at around 2.25 am on August 25. On August 24, the video of the girl had gone viral. Initially, I thought a big racket was involved. But after seeing the girl and the video, I felt that the WhatsApp threat and the video could be related, as a direct threat was made (to us),” he claimed.

Chinmayanand isn’t new to criminal cases, as in November 2011 he was charged with rape after a girl who had lived at his Ashram for several years accused him. However, the Yogi Adityanath government in March this year had filed a plea to withdraw the case. But in May, a local court rejected it.

Picture credit- Arpita Das

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