Rape accused BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand has been arrested by SIT (Special Investigation Team) today. He was produced in court and sent to jail for 14 days. The SIT chief, Naveen Arora, has now revealed that Swami Chinmayanand has admitted to almost every allegation levelled against him, which included indulging in sexual conversations with the victim and body massage.
The SIT head furthered that the former BJP leader admitted to being ashamed of his action and denied to speak about it any further. Naveen Arora said that circumstantial evidence is being investigated.
The SIT in this regard was formed on the directions of the Supreme Court in the first week of September to investigate the case. The team is led by an Inspector General-rank officer and is assisted by a Superintendent of Police (SP).
Naveen Arora, Special Investigation Team Chief: Swami Chinmayanand has admitted to almost every allegation levelled against him,including sexual conversations&body massage.Circumstantial evidences also being examined.He said he doesn’t want to say more as he’s ashamed of his acts https://t.co/d8zfRm0f7K pic.twitter.com/DhdrjN8FOF
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 20, 2019
Chinmayanand was accused of rape by a law student in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur. She had accused him of raping her and “physically exploitation” stated that the former MP recorded videos of her while she was in the bath and used them to blackmail and rape her.
He was arrested by the SIT from his Mumuksha Ashram in Shahjahanpur. Following the directions of the Supreme Court, the case is being investigated by the SIT set up by Uttar Pradesh Police.
Last week he was grilled by the SIT for more than 7 hours in Shahjanapur. The SIT members and a forensic team also spent six hours at his Divya Dham Ashram, where his bedroom was later sealed.
The rape victim’s father told reporters that Chinmayanand had raped his daughter after blackmailing her with the recorded videos. His daughter then decided to record all his acts using a hidden camera. As per reports, he has handed over 43 video clips to the SIT probing the case. He has also demanded that Section 376, along with the provisions for destroying evidence, be evoked against the former MP as some of the evidence has been removed from the hostel room of his daughter at the BJP leader’s behest.
A friend of the law student had also spoken out in her support, confirming the charges pressed against the former MP. “She studied with me in the same college and had told me about the problems she was facing. She told me she was first given free food and other privileges in the hostel but was unaware of what was in store for her. Later, she told me that when she went for a bath, her video was recorded, which was later used to blackmail her,” the friend recalled.
The LLM student from the Swami Shukdevanand Law College (SS Law College) in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh had alleged that Swami Chinmayanand had raped her and physically assaulted her for over a year. She had released a video on social media on August 23, levelling allegations of sexual harassment against Chinmayanand.
Apart from him, the SIT has today also arrested the victim’s friend who had made ransom calls to Swami Chinmayanand. Sources in the Uttar Pradesh police had confirmed that the Whatsapp message demanding Rs 5 crore was sent to the BJP leader by obtaining a QR code by generating a pin on a SIM belonging to someone else. He will be produced in court today.
