Chinmayanand case: How the victim landed in jail but the perpetrator in a hospital

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Wednesday arrested for extortion the Shahjahanpur law student, who has charged BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand with sexual misconduct and harassment.

The matter of the law student's anticipatory bail hearing being heard by the Allahabad High Court, was to come up for hearing on Thursday, but the SIT did not wait for the court's ruling, as certain phone calls traced reportedly revealed that the victim was planning to escape.

The woman was arrested from her home in Shahjahanpur and taken to the Kotwali police station. She was then taken for medical examination and would later be produced in court.

Last month, a 23-year old woman from Shahjahanpur had accused ex BJP MLA Swami Chinmayanand of sexual assault on her and various other women of her college. In a statement to the Delhi police and magistrate, the 23-year-old woman has described what she alleges was a year of sexual assault by Chinmayanand, who runs several ashrams and educational institutions.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) questioned the girl for about a day, confirmed through videos that she was forced to give massages to the former minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand. Often, she was brought to him by his men threatened with gunpoint. She was stalked and wrongfully confined.

Last month she went missing, and the complaint was not filed by the UP Police until the whole weekend while she was missing. An FIR has not been filed in this matter either.

A few days later, a video that reportedly shows a naked Swami Chinmayanand, accused of sexual harassment by a girl student of Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, with a girl giving a massage to him, and saying certain inappropriate things went viral on social media after someone leaked it.

Naveen Arora, who has been heading the SIT team, told reporters that during the course of investigation, Chinmayanand admitted to his actions and said, "Mujhse aur kuchh mat puchhiye".

The SIT has still not charged Chinmayanand with rape.

"He has admitted to almost every allegation leveled against him, including sexual conversations and body massage. The circumstantial evidence in the case is also being examined. He said he did not want to say more as he is ashamed of his acts," said the SIT chief.

After he was arrested and sent to 14 days judicial custody, former Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Chinmayanand, was shifted to Lucknow's Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences from Shahjahanpur after he complained of pain in the chest.

Sources said he has been admitted to the Cardiology Department and will undergo angiography. According to doctors treating him, Chinmayanand has a blockage in heart and is a patient of diabetes and hyper tension. He had been briefly hospitalised in Shahjahanpur last week following severe diarrhoea.

The BJP leader, who has been accused of stalking, wrongful confinement and intimidation, was taken into custody by the SIT of UP Police from his residence 'Divya Dham'. The BJP leader was taken to the court following a medical examination.

SIT sources said the victim is also an accused in the case along with her friend, Sanjay Singh, and two cousins, Sachin Sengar and Vikram, who were involved in the extortion calls made to Chinmayanand.

All four have been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 35 (criminal act done with a criminal knowledge or intention), 385 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201(disappearance of evidences) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.

The three men were arrested and sent to jail hours after Chinmayanand was taken into custody. "I do not realise that the people who helped me escape from Chinmayanand were using me. I have nothing to do with the extortion case. I think all this drama is being done to dilute my charges of rape. I am confident that I will get justice from the Allahabad High Court," she told reporters after she was booked.

The law student, who was enrolled in a postgraduate course at one of the colleges run by Chinmayanand's organisation, had levelled allegations of rape and physically exploitation against the former Union minister. She claimed that the ordeal went on for a year.