Shahjahanpur harassment case: Swami Chinmayanand ‘massage’ video goes viral

A video that reportedly shows BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, accused of sexual harassment by a girl student of Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, with a girl giving a massage to him has gone viral on social media after someone leaked it.

The video shows an elderly man undress as he gets a massage from a young girl. A media website claims that this video has been shot through a spycam, which could have been fitted in her glasses.

This video was submitted to the SIT by the family of the survivor of the Shahjahanpur sexual harassment case. The SIT has not yet decided if they should take the video as evidence as the video’s authenticity is being questioned.

Earlier this 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, reported NDTV.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) interrogated the girl for about 15 hours and saw the videos the girl showed them. She was forced to give massages to the former minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand. Often, she was brought to him by his aides at gunpoint. Last month she went missing, and the complaint was not filed by the UP Police for 3 days. An FIR in this case has still not been lodged.

According to NDTV, the girl said she first met Chinmayanand last year in June when she was seeking admission in the college run by Chinmayanand. He took her number and gave her an admission.

He later also offered her a job for a ₹5000 stipend. Chinmayanand then asked her to move into the hostel and asked her to come to the ashram. He showed the student a bathing video of her, and threatened to share it on the internet, blackmailed her and forced himself upon her.

He then made a video of the sexual assault itself and blackmailed the girl for more such favours.

After she uploaded a live video on Facebook on August 24, she ran away from college. Her father, citing the Facebook post said that Chinmayanand is responsible for harassing many other girls as well. The woman was tracked down, a week after that video was posted, in Rajasthan. The Supreme Court, which had stepped in after lawyers flagged the case, asked the police to produce her and spoke to her in a closed hearing on September 30.

Chinmayanand has denied all allegations and is calling this a political conspiracy to bring him down and defame him. “You all know when on August 24 she made the first video viral, at that time she didn't say anything happened to her. She only accused him of threatening her. When she failed in her conspiracy, she created new drama," said Om Singh, the politician's lawyer to NDTV.