Rape accused BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand sent to 14 days judicial custody

A local court here on Friday sent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Swami Chinmayanand to judicial custody for 14 days for allegedly raping a law student in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district.

A special investigation team (SIT), probing the allegations levelled by the student, arrested the leader earlier in the day, following which he was produced before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court.

Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Om Veer sent the accused to Shahjahanpur district jail, where he will be lodged for 14 days.

The law student went missing on August 24 after a video of her alleging that a person from 'Sant Samaj' had threatened to kill her and her parents went viral on the social media.

Chinmayanand's arrest comes on the complaint of a 23-year-old law student, who accused him of blackmail and rape in a video message posted on the social media on August 23. The very next day, the woman went missing and was later found in Dausa, Rajasthan.

The Supreme Court, which took suo moto cognisance of the incident, called the victim for a closed-door hearing after which the court ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to set up a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to probe the allegations. The court also ordered security for the victim and her family.

The woman was produced before the Supreme Court on August 30 after she was found in Rajasthan, following which an SIT was formed on its direction in the first week of September to investigate the matter.

The girl had later testified before a local court that she was raped by the BJP leader for over a year and the incident was recorded on camera.