Charges Filed Against Chinmayanand for Rape, Victim for Extortion

Swami Chinmayanand has been accused of rape by a law student. 

(Photo: The Quint) 

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the sexual harassment case against former Union Minister Chinmayanand and the extortion case against the alleged victim, a law student, on Wednesday, 6 November, filed charge sheets in both the cases.

After a two-month-long investigation, the SIT filed the 20-page charge sheets in both the cases. The case diary runs into 4,700 pages.

The SIT also submitted 79 evidences and told the court that it had cross-examined 105 people during the investigations.

The SIT field the charge sheet in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Om Vir Singh.

All the accused, including Chinmayanand, the law student and her male companions Sanjay Singh, Vikram Singh and Sachin Sengar, were present in court.

They were brought from jail under tight security and a heavy police deployment had been made in the district court too.

The charges were read out before them separately and the accused were returned to the court.

According to SIT chief Naveen Arora, the charge sheet also mentions that D.P.S. Rathore, a BJP leader, was also involved in an attempt to extort Rs 1.25 crore from Chinmayanand.

Rathore, is Shahjahanpur district cooperative bank chairman and a BJP leader. His aide Ajeet Kumar is the brother-in-law of one of the accused in the extortion case according to Arora.

Rathore and Kumar have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for extortion, causing disappearance of evidence and criminal intimidation.

The SIT has yet not arrested them but has included their name.

Rathore and Kumar had told the woman and her friend Sanjay to hand over all evidences (stored in a pen drive) to them so that it could be kept safe.

The SIT recorded statements of 105 people and added 24 pieces of physical evidence, and 55 documents in the charge sheet. The SIT has concluded the probe and will file a final status report on 28 November.

Meanwhile, forensic labs studying the videos featuring Chinmayanand and the woman have said they have not been tampered with. Voice samples have also confirmed their authenticity.

"We traced the WhatsApp number from which the extortion message was sent to Chinmayanand. That number was installed by Sanjay... it is sufficient to book them under IT Act," Arora said, referring to the extortion case.

The SIT probe suggests that the evidence from woman's hostel room was removed by her and Sanjay Kumar-one of the accused in the extortion case.

"It is believed that a pair of spectacles (with an in-built camera) was also taken away by them. They took away every small thing from the room," Arora said.

Two reports - one, regarding the police functioning and the other, about lapses on the part of college administration – will be submitted to the government, he added.

The High Court will hear the bail plea of the woman on 6 November and Chinmayanand's bail plea on 8 November.

The SIT that probed the case was constituted on the orders of the Supreme Court on 7 September.