Rape accused Chinmayanand arrested

New Delhi: Former Union minister and BJP leader Chinmayanand, accused of rape by Uttar Pradesh law student, was arrested by UP Special Investigation Team (SIT). An official said the BJP leader has been taken for medical examination to a government hospital.

The arrest came five days after the woman detailed what she said was a year of sexual assault and blackmail before a court.

On Monday, the woman went to a court protected by over 50 police personnel and recorded her statement in the court of the chief judicial magistrate.

The woman had given a pen drive containing over 40 videos to the SIT to support her allegations. The investigative team had taken the woman to Chinmayanand’s bedroom and had collected evidence.

In her 12-page complaint, the woman said that she met Chinmayanand in June 2018 for admission in a law course at a college which he runs. She alleged that he took her phone number and arranged her admission. He also called her and offered her a job at the college library for Rs 5000. The woman worked in the library while continuing classes since her family was poor.

“He asked me to move into the hostel in October and later invited me to his ashram,” the complaint



added.

The woman claimed he showed her a video of her bathing in the hostel and threatened to make it “viral” and forced himself on her. She said the leader also filmed the rape and used it for blackmail. The assaults continued until July this year.

On September 5, she filed a complaint with the Lodhi Road Police Station in Delhi as she had “lost faith in the Uttar Pradesh police” since they denied registering her complaint.

The woman went missing on August 24, a day after she posted a video online in which she insinuated the leader had harassed and threatened her. In the video, she sought help from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The woman’s father filed a complaint with the UP police after she went missing. Although she did not name the BJP leader in the initial video, the woman’s father named Chinamayanand in his complaint.

On August 30, she was traced to Rajasthan and was produced before the Supreme Court. In court, she informed judges that she went into hiding to protect herself. The apex court ordered the Special Investigation Team to enquire into her allegations.