A Special Investigation Team on Friday arrested former MoS (Home) Swami Chinmayanand in Shahjahanpur following a complaint of sexual abuse against him by a law student.
The SIT action comes three days before it was supposed to submit a report about the preliminary investigation and the action taken so far. The SIT is to submit its report on the complaint of the girl before the court of law by September 23.
The girl had been alleging inaction as Chinmayanand happened to be an influential politician. On Monday, after her statement was recorded under Section 164 of CrPc, she had again demanded arrest of the former minister and had even threatened to immolate self if no action was taken.
The Opposition parties also targeted Yogi government in the state for shielding the former minister. The Opposition members even claimed that since Swami Chinmayanand had proximity with Chief Minister Yogi Adtiyanath, the officials were not taking any action.
The issue came to limelight after the girl's video claiming harassment by Swami Chinmayanand went viral. Interestingly, the matter got further complicated as the girl went missing after the video went viral. Family members began alleging that the girl had been kidnapped and she might not be safe.
Apex court took suo moto cognisance of the matter and directed the UP police to trace the girl. Interestingly, the girl was traced with one man from Rajasthan. The girl was then produced before the SC judges in a closed room after which the SC directed the UP government to set up an SIT to probe into the matter.
NO RAPE CHARGES
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| Uttar Pradesh police have charged Swami Chinmayanand with an offense of not amounting to rape, stalking and criminal intimidation |
| It also arrested three friends of the woman for trying to extort `5 crore from Chinmayanand, criminal intimidation, and sending offensive messages to him |
—Zee Media Newsroom
