Law Student Who Accused Chinmayanand Of Rape Arrested And Remanded To 14 Days Custody In Extortion Case
The Shahjahanpur law student, who had leveled allegations of sexual harassment and rape against Former Union Minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, has been arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the charges of extortion and blackmailing, reported the ToI. The SIT had booked her and her three friends on a complaint made by Chinmayanand that they had demanded Rs....
The Shahjahanpur law student, who had leveled allegations of sexual harassment and rape against Former Union Minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, has been arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the charges of extortion and blackmailing, reported the ToI.
The SIT had booked her and her three friends on a complaint made by Chinmayanand that they had demanded Rs. 5 crore from him and threatened him with the release of objectionable videos.
While the three were arrested earlier, the girl was forcefully arrested today from her home, reports ToI. As per the reports, she was dragged outside her room and was not even allowed to use the washroom.
She has been sent to 14 days judicial custody by the CJM after her medical examination at the Shahjahanpur district hospital, as per the reports. She was questioned yesterday, after the SIT discovered that she and her friends had exchanged numerous phone calls, proximate to the time when the alleged extortion call was made.
The arrest has been made a day after the sessions court at Shahjahanpur admitted her interim bail application. The Additional District Judge had directed then to summon all records related to the case on September 26.
Earlier, the girl had approached the Allahabad High Court which refused to stay her arrest and directed her to approach a competent court. The bench stated that it was confined to monitor the SIT probe only and "If the victim wants any relief in this regard, she may file a fresh petition before an appropriate Bench". The court then accepted the SIT's report for the investigation conducted so far, and asked it to submit the next report on October 22.
There were also reports that the SIT tried to intercept the girl while she was on her way to the Sessions court in connection with her bail application yesterday however, the same were denied by the girl's counsel.
The SIT, headed by Naveen Arora, Inspector General of Grievances, was constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate into the rape allegations. The bench of Justices R. Banumathi and A. S. Bopanna had taken suo moto cognizance of the matter when the girl went missing from her college hostel after the video leveling those allegations surfaced online. Soon after she was traced in Jaipur, the bench directed to transfer the complainant to another college for pursuing her degree and refused to meet her again. The matter was disposed of with a clarification that the proceedings were only to ensure her safety and that her education was not hampered, and she could make further submissions before the SIT.
The SIT submitted its investigation report in connection to the rape allegations to the Allahabad High Court on Monday with directions to submit the next report on October 22.
In connection to the rape allegations, Chinmayanand was arrested last Friday and was sent to 14 days' judicial custody. Thereafter, he filed a bail application in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate at Shahjahanpur, which was rejected on Monday. The CJM said that the bail application should be moved in the Sessions court.