BJP leader and former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand was on Thursday questioned by a Special Investigation Team for seven hours in connection with allegations that he raped a law student, PTI quoted his counsel as saying. The SIT, formed on the orders of the Supreme Court, summoned Chinmayanad to the police lines in Shahjahanpur on Thursday, news agency PTI reported. The SIT team also sealed the bedroom of the BJP leader. They are expected to continue their inspection on Friday, his lawyer Om Singh said. The SIT also questioned the principals of two colleges where the woman, who has accused Chinmayanand of harassment, has studied. In a letter on the SIT on Wednesday, the woman alleged that some vital evidence was removed from her hostel room by Chinmayanand's supporters before it was sealed by the police. On Monday the SIT opened the hostel room, in the presence of the student and her father. Earlier, the SIT questioned the leader's lawyer, Om Singh, for over five hours in connection with allegations that the woman had demanded Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand. The Shahjahanpur law student has alleged that the former Union Minister had raped her and sexually assaulted her for a year. “Swami Chinmayanand raped me and has been sexually assaulting me for the last one year… The harassment started after I started staying at the (law college) hostel,” she alleged. Chinmayanand is president of the law college’s management committee. The law student was reported missing from Shahjahanpur on August 23, a day after she posted a video on social media alleging that an “influential leader of the sant community” was harassing and threatening to kill her. Her father had accused Chinmayanand of harassing her and other students. On August 27, Chinmayanand, who has denied the charges, was booked under Sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC based on the father’s complaint. The law student was traced to Rajasthan on August 30, and produced before the Supreme Court, which took suo motu cognizance of the matter. On September 2, the Supreme Court had asked the Uttar Pradesh government to set up a special investigation team to “address her grievances”.
