Court admits law student’s bail plea

Woman, along with three others, is an accused in a case of extortion filed by Swami Chinmayanand

LUCKNOW: A court in Shahjahanpur on Tuesday accepted the anticipatory bail application of the 23-year-old law student, who has accused former Union minister and BJP leader Chinmayanand of rape, in an extortion case. Meanwhile, the Shahjahanpur chief judicial magistrate has rejected the bail application of Chinmayanand, saying it should be moved in sessions court.

LUCKNOW: A local court in Shahjahanpur on Tuesday accepted the anticipatory bail appeal of the woman who has accused former minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of rape.

Chinmayanand was arrested by the Special Investigation Team on September 20 and sent to Shahjahanpur jail on 14-day judicial custody.

He was shifted to SGPGI (Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences) in Lucknow for medical care on Monday.

The woman had appealed for an anticipatory bail in a case of extortion in which she is accused with three others. The SIT has already arrested the three accused -Sanjay Singh, Sachin Sengar and Vivek Singhon September 20.

Anoop Trivedi, lawyer of the woman, said, “The honourable court has accepted our appeal and asked the prosecution to submit records regarding the matter on September 26 for hearing.”

The woman was taken to the court in an SIT vehicle that lead to rumours of her arrest, which were later denied by her lawyer.

A senior SIT official also confirmed that the woman was neither detained nor arrested. “Our team accompanied her for security reasons. She was not arrested or detained,” said the official.

The case came to light when the woman went missing on August 24, a day after she posted a video on the social media alleging that a “senior leader of the seer community” was harassing and threatening her. She did not name

Chinmayanand in the video. However, she later told reporters that she was raped for close to a year by Chinmayanand.

The Supreme Court took cognisance of the matter and ordered formation of the SIT for a court monitored investigation. Following in investigation, the SIT arrested Chinmayanand under Section 376C (sexual intercourse by a person in authority), 354 D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Meanwhile, it charged the woman and the three accused for extortion.