3 min readLucknowAug 28, 2019 10:21 AM IST
First published on: Aug 28, 2019 at 02:50 AM IST
The case against Chinmayanand was lodged after the woman’s father filed a missing complaint naming the BJP leader.
An FIR was filed against former BJP MP Swami Chinmayanand in Shahjahanpur on Tuesday after a law student, who had posted a video on Facebook alleging threat to her life by an “influential sant-politician who has destroyed lives of several girls”, went missing two days ago.
While the girl did not name anyone in the video, which appears to be shot in a car, her father alleged that she was referring to Chinmayanand.
In his complaint to the police, the father alleged that the girl was sexually harassed. However, the FIR against the former MP has been registered under IPC section 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
ADG (Bareilly Zone) Avinash Chandra said the charge of sexual harassment has not been included in the FIR as the allegation is yet to be verified. He also claimed that the video appeared suspicious and said that two-three days ago they found CCTV footage showing the girl entering a Delhi hotel with a youth.
On Sunday, an FIR was registered based on a complaint lodged by Chinmayanand’s lawyer, Om Singh, who alleged that Chinmayanand received an extortion threat on WhatsApp. The ADG said the number from which the message was sent belongs to the youth seen with the girl in the CCTV footage. The FIR registered against an unidentified person said that the WhatsApp message received by Chinmayanand on Thursday (August 22) made a demand of Rs 5 crore.
The girl is a student in a Shahjahanpur college of which Chinmayanand is the chairman and president of the management committee.
The girl’s father told The Indian Express that they learned about the incident when she uploaded the video on Facebook on Saturday. “That day, after my relatives told us about the video, her mother went to her hostel but she was not there and both her cellphones were switched off. On Sunday, I went to the police station with a complaint that Chinmayanand and others have kidnapped my daughter,” said the father.
ADG Avinash Chandra claimed the girl was safe and police were trying to trace her and the youth.
“The case will be investigated in an impartial way. This is our topmost priority case in Shahjahanpur,” he said.
The case against Chinmayanand was lodged after the woman’s father filed a missing complaint naming the BJP leader.
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