Chinmayanand Case: Law Student, Who Accused BJP Leader Of Rape, Arrested In Extortion Case

While the court had fixed Thursday for hearing her plea seeking protection from arrest, the SIT along with Kotwali police arrested the student on Wednesday.

(Image: PTI)

New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh law student who has accused former Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Chinmayanand of rape, has been arrested in the extortion case against her, from Shahjahanpur. 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 revealed that the victim was planning to escape. The woman was arrested from her home here and taken to the Kotwali police station. She was then taken for medical examination and would later be produced in court. Director General of Police, OP Singh said: "The law student, who had accused Swami Chinmayanand for sexually harassing her, has been arrested by the SIT (Special Investigation Team) for allegedly trying to extort money from him". Manendra Singh, the lawyer of Chinmayanand said: "court has sent the girl to 14-day judicial custody. A bail application was moved by her lawyer which was rejected by the court as it was not maintainable. If hearing on the bail application is taken up again, it'll be done at 1 pm." The woman was earlier on Tuesday taken into custody but later released by the SIT after the court of Additional District Judge (ADJ) first, granted a stay on her arrest. The girl had allegedly tried to extort Rs 5 crore from the BJP leader. The arrest comes a day after a local court admitted the interim bail plea filed by the law student. While the court had fixed Thursday for hearing her plea seeking protection from arrest, the SIT along with Kotwali police arrested the student on Wednesday. The court had further asked the Special Investigating Team (SIT) to produce evidence against the woman. Earlier in the day, the woman was taken into custody by the SIT on charges of extortion and blackmail as Chinmayanand had accused her and three men of demanding Rs 5 crore from him. The SIT had taken two other youths - Vikram and Sachin - arrested in the same case on remand on Tuesday and sources said that the SIT wanted to cross-examine the woman and the youths face-to-face. The SIT picked her up before the petition for anticipatory bail could come up for hearing before the court. Sources further said that the SIT wanted to recover the mobile which the woman had reportedly thrown away in Rajasthan where she had been staying after leaving Shahjahanpur on August 24. Last month, the Shahjahanpur law student has alleged she was raped by Chinmayanand for over a year. She first mentioned harassment by Chinmayanad in a video clip on social media, after which the SIT was formed on direction of the SC.