Chinmayanand arrested, sent to judicial custody
Complainant says police trying to weaken case
LUCKNOW:Former union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, accused of rape by a law student, was on Friday arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) from his residence in Shahjahanpur and sent to 14 days’ judicial custody even as the woman claimed the police were trying to weaken the case against him.
The SIT arrested three other men – all charged with trying to extort money from the former union minister. The 23-year-old law student is also an accused in the extortion case.
According to SIT, Chinmayanand expressed remorse after his arrest. “Main apne kia kritya se sharminda hun (I am ashamed of my acts)”, said Chinmayanand when we asked him about the allegations made by the woman against him,” said inspector general of police Naveen Arora, who is leading the SIT investigation, while addressing media persons in Shahjahanpur.
Arora said the three arrested accused worked as a gang for extortion. “The woman was in constant touch with Sanjay
› Main apne kia kritya se sharminda hun (I am ashamed of my acts) CHINMAYANAND , BJP leader
Singh, one of the arrested men. The two exchanged 4,200 calls since January 1 this year,” Arora said. The woman and Chinmayanand also spoke on phone around 200 times during the same period, he said.
While DGP O P Singh said Chinmayanand was arrested in
LUCKNOW: The woman, who accused Swami Chinamayanand of rape, has expressed dissatisfaction over his arrest under weaker sections of the IPC.
“I am not satisfied because he was booked under section 376 C (sexual intercourse by a person in authority) and not rape (376 IPC),” the woman told media persons at her house in Shahjahanpur on Friday. Chinmayanand was arrested by a Special Investigation Team of police earlier in the day. According to lawyers, both section 376 and 376 C are similar but have different provision of punishment. “Under section 376, the minimum punishment is of 7 years of imprisonment that can extend up life term. However, under section 376 C, there is minimum punishment of five years that can extend up to 10,” said senior lawyer Rohit Kant.
The 23-year-old woman law student, along with her father, was untraceable for around 48 hours before Chinmayanand’s arrest. Besides arresting Chinmayanand, the SIT also arrested three person for extortion demand on Chinmayanand. The
woman is a co-accused in the extortion case. “The case against me is false and has been lodged to weaken my case against Chinmayanand,” she said. She also accused the state government of protecting Chinmayanand.
“Chinmayanand was shielded till now from arrest despite my statements and proof against him. They even allowed him to be
admitted in hospital to delay his arrest,” said the woman.
The woman was pursuing law at a college run by Chinmyanand’s trust. The woman is also facing arrest in the extortion case after the arrest of three other accused in the case. SIT chief IG Naveen Arora declined to comment whether she would be arrested or not.