Chinmayanand case: Law student arrested by SIT

The 23-year-old UP law student, who accused BJP leader Chinmayanand of sexual assault, has been arrested on a charge of extortion by the special team probing the case. The law student had moved a local court for protection against arrest but did not get any immediate relief. The court had posted the hearing for Wednesday.

She has been arrested, Inspector General of Police Naveen Arora, who heads the Special Investigation Team, told.

Last week, the special probe team had arrested Chinmayanand on a complaint from the law student who has accused the BJP leader of rape and blackmail. That arrest coincided with the arrest of three more people for attempting to extort money from Chinmayanand.

SIT chief Naveen Arora had then linked the woman to the three men, pointing out that the law student had been in constant touch with one of the accused, Sanjay Singh. The special team had counted 4,200 phone calls between the two this year.

The woman had asked the Allahabad high court that had been ordered by the Supreme Court to oversee investigations into the case. But the high court had redirected her to the appropriate court, telling her that it was only meant to monitor the probe and not grant relief.

The case hit national headlines last month when the woman went missing on August 24 after posting a video on social media alleging that a "senior leader of the seer community" was harassing and threatening her. She did not name Chinmayanand in the video. But when she went missing, her father went public to blame Chinmayanand for her disappearance. She was later traced to Rajasthan where she said, she had gone to protect herself.

The woman, who studied at a college run by Chinmayanand's ashram, also alleged that she was raped and physically exploited by the 72-year-old for over a year.

But Chinmayanand's lawyer Om Singh, who had filed a counter case of extortion against her, later told reporters that the law student along with three of her male friends Sachin Sengar, Shivam Singh and Vikaram Singh made extortion demand of Rs 5 crore via a text message to Chinamayanand.
The woman had earlier said that the case of extortion against her had been slapped to weaken her case against Chinamyanand. The SIT was formed by the state government on the direction of the Supreme Court.