Chinmayanand case: Woman, SIT leave for Allahabad for hearing on Monday

Shahjahanpur: The student who levelled rape charges against BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand has left for Allahabad, where she will be appearing before the High Court on Monday, sources said.

The special investigation team (SIT), which will submit a status report in the court, too has left for Allahabad, they said.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, former MLC and BJP leader Jayesh Prasad met Chinmayanand in the jail and expressed concern over the health of the 72-year-old former Union minister.

"The health of Chinmayanand is continuously deteriorating. He should be shifted to the KGMU in Lucknow or any other prominent hospital for treatment," he said, adding that though he respected the legal process, the woman was "yet to be arrested" in the cases registered by the leader against her and other accused.

The student and her three friends were booked for extortion by the SIT. Sources said the SIT also booked the woman on charges of causing disappearance of evidence.

Jail Superintendent Rakesh Kumar told PTI on Sunday that on September 20, the advocate of Swami Chinmayanand, Om Singh, had submitted an application to the CJM court, urging it to allow the "shifting of the leader to the KGMU, Lucknow, for treatment".

Kumar said they had received directions from the court and the jail doctor was looking after the leader. "A team of doctors from the Shahjahanpur Medical College came yesterday to see him and he is being given the medicines from time to time as prescribed by the doctors," he said.

The former Union minister was arrested by the SIT on Friday and sent to 14 days' judicial custody. According to Om Singh, the counsel for Chinmayanad, they could not approach the court for bail on Saturday as local advocates were on strike demanding that Shahjahanpur be attached with the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.

The sources said that the SIT had on Friday 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 disclosed her identity in view of the Supreme Court guidelines.

SIT chief Naveen Arora had on Friday said the three friends, when questioned in view of a video clip in which they were purportedly discussing extortion, had accepted their involvement in the case. 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 evidences) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act. The three men were arrested by the SIT.

On her name being included in the extortion case, the woman had said, "I do not know if the people who helped me escape from Chinmayanand were using me. I have nothing to do with the extortion case. I think all this drama is being done to dilute my charges of rape." The girl said, "The Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the entire matter and I am confident that I will get justice on September 23, which is the date of hearing in Allahabad High Court."