Chinmayanand case: After Allahabad HC refuses to stay arrest, law student, four others arrested by SIT on charges of extortion

In development to the case where a law student from Shahjahanpur accused BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of sexual harassment, the survivor and three of her friends were arrested by the special investigation team (SIT) on charges of extortion which were filed by the former Union minister. Day after being detained for questioning in an extortion case, she was arrested on Wednesday morning, reported CNN-News18. She is likely to be produced before a court after a medical examination.

The SIT, which was appointed by the Supreme Court, claims that they have a video discussing the extortion. Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police, OP Singh said,"The law student, who had accused Swami Chinmayanand of sexually harassing her, has been arrested by the SIT (Special Investigation Team) for allegedly trying to extort money from him"

Chinmayanand was arrested last Friday and sent to 14 days' judicial custody.

File image of Swami Chinmayanand. News18

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Earlier, on Monday, the Allahabad High Court rejected the bail plea and refused to grant relief to the law student who sought a stay of her arrest on charges of extortion.

A two-judge bench, comprising justice Manoj Mishra and justice Manju Rani Chauhan, passed the order while hearing a petition filed by the woman, who had accused Chinmayanand of raping her.

"If the victim wants any relief in this regard, she may file a fresh petition before an appropriate bench," the court said. "This bench was nominated to the case only for monitoring the investigation in this matter and has no jurisdiction to pass an order on stay of the arrest."

The law student had sought a stay in her arrest after the SIT also arrested three other men on charges of trying to extort money from Chinmayanand and named an unidentified woman as a suspect in the same case.

Sources told PTI that the SIT had registered a case against the woman's three friends — Sanjay Singh, Sachin Sengar and Vikram — and an unnamed person (Ms A). They said the unnamed person was also a student but they did not disclose her identity in view of the Supreme Court guidelines.

They have been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 35 (criminal act done with a criminal knowledge or intention), 385 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201(disappearance of evidence) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.

The woman had claimed that the police were trying to weaken the case against the ruling party politician.

The court expressed satisfaction with SIT progress report in the case and fixed 22 October as the next date of hearing.

With inputs from PTI