Chinmayanand case: Supreme Court directs UP govt to set up SIT to probe Shahjahanpur law student's allegations

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the allegations of Shahjahanpur law student who went missing after accusing former Union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of threatening to kill her.

#NewsAlert – Supreme Court orders formation of SIT to probe survivor’s charges. | #ShahjahanpurMystery @pranshumisraa with details while @utkarsh_aanand shares more inputs and @AnilaSingh2 reacts. pic.twitter.com/UUkuHmwamT

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The apex court said that the SIT, which will look into the grievances of the complainant and the two cross FIRs lodged in the matter, will be headed by IG-rank officer and also have SP-rank officer. The court also asked the Allahabad HC Chief Justice to form a bench to monitor the probe. [caption id=“attachment_6604251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of the Supreme Court. Reuters[/caption] The Supreme Court also directed the Yogi Adityanath government to look for admission of the complainant and her brother in other institutions as they are afraid of continuing at Chinmayanand’s trust-run college. A bench headed by Justice R Banumathi interacted with the girl in chambers on 30 August, after she was presented before the court. The police located the complainant in Rajasthan, along with her friend,  the same day. A video of the missing girl went viral on 24 August in which she alleged that a person from ‘Sant Samaj’ destroyed the lives of many women and did the same to her. She also alleged that the person also threatened to kill her and her parents. Parents of the law student alleged that Swami Chinmayanand was responsible for their daughter’s disappearance. They also claimed that the girl went missing after her video accusing Chinmayanad went viral on social media. Following this, a group of Supreme Court lawyers filed a petition before the apex court and urged it to take suo moto cognisance of media reports alluding to her disappearance. Chinmayanand’s lawyer alleged that the BJP leader had received a message on his mobile phone on 22 August from an unknown number demanding Rs 5 crore and threatening that if the money is not given, they will release an explicit video of the leader. The girl appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath for help. With inputs from agencies