UP rape survivor held for extortion

In a curious twist, the 23year-old student, who accused BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of rape, was arrested on Wednesday on charges of extortion and sent to 14 days judicial custody.

Her family has alleged that the police dragged her out of their home in Shahjahanpur, not allowing her to even put on her slippers, reports NDTV.

The 23-year-old has been charged with extortion, criminal intimidation and "disappearance of evidence". Her father alleges he was forced to sign an arrest "memo", a document necessary for police paperwork.

The SIT later said that it made the arrest only after "enough" digital and forensic evidence was found and corroborative statements were recorded. Her request for bail was denied by a court. "She has confessed to extortion," said Bharti Singh, a member of the Special Investigation Team of the UP police appointed by the Supreme Court to inquire into the student's allegations. "We have enough evidence that Rs. 5 crore extortion money was demanded from Chinmayanand," SIT chief Naveen Arora added.

The man she has accused of raping her, 72-year-old Chinmayanand, was arrested on Friday but is not in jail. He has claimed heart ailments and has been in hospital, "under observation", since Sunday.

The SIT has already arrested three persons known to her in this case of blackmail. The arrested persons are Sanjay, Vikram and Sachin. The SIT had taken two accused - Sachin and Vikram on remand for taking them to Rajasthan to the site for recovery of a mobile phone

allegedly used in making the extortion demand. Meanwhile, in a statement, the Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives, an NGO working with women, condemned the arrest of the rape survivor and the special treatment meted out to the accused Chinmayanand. "Even after Chinmayanand has confessed to rape, he is being kept as a VIP patient in a super specialty hospital in Lucknow where tests have proved that there is nothing seriously wrong with him.’’