The Special Investigation Team probing rape allegations against the BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand says that the accused has accepted to taking body massage from the victim. However, he hasn’t confessed to the rape yet, the SIT chief Naveen Arora revealed after Chinmayanand’s arrest from his Shahjahanpur residence on Friday, September 20 morning.
The SIT has also arrested three other people in the case of extortion filed by Chinmayanand. Sanjay Singh, Sachin Singh and Vikram have been arrested and accused of sending a message to Chinmayanand demanding Rs 5 crores and threatening him with the release of objectionable videos, Arora said.
The woman who accused Chinamayanand of rape is also an accused in the extortion case and was in constant touch with Sanjay Singh, said police.
Shahjahanpur: BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand has been arrested in connection with the alleged sexual harassment of a UP law student. pic.twitter.com/gxZxr81qN6
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 20, 2019
The politician has been charged, not with rape but “misusing authority for sexual intercourse” or “sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape”, which has a punishment of up to five years in jail and a fine. He has also been charged with stalking, criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement.
A rape charge could land Chinmayanand in jail for seven years and can also be extended to life term.
Chinmayanand’s Arrest
Accused of rape by a 23-year old law student, Chinmayanand was taken to Shahjahanpur district jail on Friday afternoon and is said to be lodged in the jail.
“Swami has confessed that he took massage from the woman. He has not confessed to raping yet however we will pursue an investigation of the case on the basis of the evidence we have,” said SIT chief Naveen Arora.
“He has admitted to almost every allegation levelled against him, including sexual conversations and body massage. The circumstantial evidence in the case also being examined. He said he did not want to say more as he is ashamed of his acts,” Naveen said.
Arora added that the law student and Chinmayanand had exchanged phone calls around 200 times since January 1, 2019. “We have sent Swami’s mobile phone to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to recover data from it,” said Arora.
“The woman was in constant touch with accused Sanjay Singh. The duo exchanged 4200 calls since January 1 this year,” Arora said and added, “We are yet to recover the phone used by the woman and Sanjay. Once recovered, phones will be sent for forensic examination.”
The entire controversy came to light when the law student went missing on August 24, a day after she posted a video on the social media alleging a “senior leader of the seer community” was harassing and threatening to kill her. She did not name Chinmayanand in the video.
The Supreme Court took cognizance of the matter and advised the state government to form SIT to initiate an investigation. Later, Chinmayanand was booked under Sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code based on the complaint of woman’s father on August 27.
Immediately after the woman went missing, Chinmayanand’s lawyer Om Singh filed a case of extortion and threat on his behalf.
