BJP leader and Former Union Minister Chinmayanand arrested by SIT in alleged rape case

Lucknow : BJP leader and Former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand who is accused of rape was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Friday at his home in Shahjahanpur and has confessed to almost all the allegations made against him.

Swami Chinmayanand had accepted during his interrogation that he had received body massages from the victim but has not confessed to raping her.

"He was arrested by SIT at 8:50 am at his home in Shahjahanpur and was then taken for medical. We haven’t been given any copy of the FIR or charge sheet yet, we got to know about the arrest as cops made family members sign an arrest memo", informed Chinamayanand’s lawyer.

The former Union minister in his interrogation with SIT said that he was ashamed of his deeds and does not want to say anything more.

While addressing the media, SIT chief Naveen Arora said, "Swami Chinmayanand has admitted to almost every allegation levelled against him, including sexual conversations and body massages. Circumstantial evidence is also being examined. He said he didn't want to say more as he is ashamed of his acts."

Also, the Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested three people for sending extortion messages in the case. "On the direction of SC we had constituted and the SIT team and after a probe, we arrested Swami Chinmayanand at his ashram and he has been sent to jail. There has been no delay in the case. We have also arrested 3 ppl over extortion threats to Swami Chinmayanand," said UP DGP OP Singh.

After the arrest, Swami was sent into 14 days of judicial custody by the court. However, it is not clear on what sections the former BJP MP has been booked but it is said that he has been booked under 376C of the IPC (Sexual intercourse by a person in authority).

The complainant, who is also a law postgraduate student, has alleged that she was raped and sexually exploited for a year by Swami Chinmayanand. She is a student of one of the colleges of Swami Chinmayanand's organization. The complainant has also submitted a pen drive containing 43 video clips which she alleged will support her allegations. Meanwhile, SIT also has call data records as evidence in which it is proved that Swami and complainant had spoken to each other more than 200 times in that year.

The case was transferred to the SIT after the directions of Supreme Courts.