Chinmayanand case: SIT records statements of law student's friends, college employees; leakage of footage 'conspiracy', says woman's father

Shahjahanpur: The SIT probing the alleged rape of a law student by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Swami Chinmayanand on Sunday examined three male friends of the survivor, besides some employees of her college. The survivor’s friends who were examined included the one who was with her when she was located in Rajasthan after having gone missing from Shahjahanpur late last month. He and the two others were also present inside the car in which the girl had made her video recording, narrating her ordeal. [caption id=“attachment_7244481” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Swami Chinmayanand. News18[/caption] The apex court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) called them to the Police Lines in Shahjahanpur and recorded their statements, official sources said. The SIT also examined the principals of girl’s alma mater — a law college and a post-graduate college — both located on the campus of Mumukshu Ashram of former Union minister Chinmayanand. The SIT also examined two other college employees, who had been summoned on Saturday but had failed to turn up for recording of their statements. The girl’s father, meanwhile, termed the leakage of the video footage given to the SIT by his daughter as a “conspiracy” and said he would request the Supreme Court to order a probe into it. “From where have the screenshots and videos come to the social media? The screenshots have been posted even on various social media platforms. These were given to the SIT by my daughter. This is a conspiracy,” he said. He said he would inform the Supreme Court about it and seek a probe in the entire matter. A beleaguered Chinmayanand, meanwhile, got support from self-styled godman Swami Omji who threatened with rebellion by Hindu society if a case is registered against the BJP leader. “If any false case is registered against Chinamayanand, then crores of Hindus will hit the streets throughout the country and rise in rebellion,” said Omji, who was also a contestant in reality TV show Bigg Boss. “The UP government must not register any case of rape against Chinmayanand and if it has been lodged, it must be withdrawn,” he said. Omji claimed the girl student had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Delhi and it was at their behest that a zero FIR was lodged against Chinmayanand. The law student had on Saturday given a pen drive containing 43 videos to the SIT to support her allegations after the sleuths asked her to submit whatever evidence she had against the former Union minister. The SIT, set up on Supreme Court orders, had taken the woman to Chinmayanand’s bedroom on Friday morning and had collected various pieces of evidence. The special investigation team had quizzed the student’s mother on Saturday, they said.