Chinmayanand, BJP Leader Accused Of Raping Law Student, Sent To 14 Days Judicial Custody

Former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Chinmayanand, who is accused of raping a law student, was sent to judicial custody of 14 days on Friday. He was produced before a local court after being was arrested from his ashram in Uttar Pradesh’ Shahjahanpur on Friday. The arrest came following intense grilling of the BJP leader by SIT on Saturday last week. Last week, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) after the Supreme Court directed to do so to investigate the charges levelled by the woman, who is a postgraduate student at a college run by Chinmayanand's trust.

UP Police IG Naveen Arora, who is heading the SIT, ordered the arrest in morning on Friday. The SIT will take Chinmayanand for medical check-up at district hospital. Facing criticism over lax approach in the case, the SIT chief had said that, “We are calling all the people concerned to record their statements. We are trying to collate all the evidence including documentary ones. We are investigating the matter from every angle to assure there are no shortcomings on our part.” Arora had asked the public to give the investigators more time and trust the team looking into the case.

Shahjahanpur: BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand has been arrested in connection with the alleged sexual harassment of a UP law student. pic.twitter.com/gxZxr81qN6

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 Police had on August 27 booked Chinmayanand under sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code based on the father's complaint. "Swami Chinmayanand raped me and even exploited me physically for one year," the student had said. "The Delhi Police has registered this complaint at Lodhi Road police station and has forwarded it to Shahjahanpur police, which is not registering the rape case," she added.

Meanwhile, the police team probing rape accusations against Swami Chinmayanand on Thursday obtained records purportedly related to the appointment of the alleged victim's mother at a college run by the BJP leader's ashram. The former Union minister returned home on Thursday after spending a day at government hospital here, ignoring medical advice that he should shift to a better facility in state capital Lucknow. The mother of the woman who has levelled rape allegations against Chinmayanand was apparently appointed as a teacher at a college run by his Mumukshu ashram in May, sources said. The college principal has handed over the related documents to the special investigation team (SIT) probing the case, they said.