UP Law Student, Who Accused BJP Leader Chinmayanand Of Rape, Arrested On Extortion Charges

The UP law student, who accused BJP leader Chinmayanand of sexual assault, has been arrested on a charge of extortion by the special team probing the case. The 23-year-old had moved a local court for protection against arrest but did not get any immediate relief. The court had posted the hearing for Wednesday. Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police, OP Singh confirmed that the woman has been arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for allegedly trying to extort money from Chinmayanand. The SIT had arrested Chinmayanand last week on a complaint from the law student. She has accused the BJP leader of rape and blackmail.

The 72-year-old politician was arrested in Shahjahanpur on Friday and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. The same day three men were also arrested on extortion charges filed by the BJP leader. The law student was also booked under the same charge.

SIT has linked the woman to the three men, pointing out that the law student had been in constant touch with one of the accused. The special team had counted 4200 phone calls between the two this year.

Meanwhile, doctors said Chinmayanad's medical condition has improved. On Monday, he was admitted at Lucknow's Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, complaining of chest pain, and remains there under observation.

Chinmayanand, sent to judicial custody after his arrest, was booked under section 376C of the IPC, which is usually applied in cases where a person abuses his position to "induce or seduce" a woman under his charge to have "sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape". This is a lesser charge than section 376, under which a rape convict faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The punishment under section 376C is between five and 10 years in jail.

He was also booked under sections 354 D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. The woman had claimed that the police were trying to weaken the case against the ruling party politician.

(With Agency Inputs)