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BJP Leader Chinmayanand Arrested, Sent To 14 Judicial Custody

Reports said that while he complained of ill health on Thursday, a special team of the UP police took him for medical tests.
The India Today Group via Getty Images

BJP leader and former union minister Chinmayanand, accused of rape by a law student, was arrested on Friday and sent to 14 days judicial custody by a court in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur.

The BJP leader, charged with stalking, wrongful confinement and intimidation, was arrested by the SIT of Uttar Pradesh police from his residence ‘Divya Dham’ here around 8:50 am amid heavy security deployment.

He was taken for medical examination to a government hospital, following which he was taken to the the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate.

NDTV reported that the BJP leader, who runs the ashram and the college where the woman studies, complained of uneasiness on Thursday and was hospitalised.

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Meanwhile, a report in the Hindustan Times said that the BJP leader had been taken to a Lucknow hospital by a special team of Uttar Pradesh police.

The 23-year-old woman who accused Chinmayanand of rape went to court on Monday to record her statement under heavy police protection.

She and her family have alleged threat to their lives.

The woman threatened to immolate self-immolation on Wednesday if he was not arrested.

“Even two days after I recorded my statement before a magistrate, Chinmayanand has not been arrested. If the government is waiting for me to die, I will sprinkle kerosene on my body and immolate myself,” the student told reporters here.

She remained in the court for around four hours on Monday and told PTI that the magistrate recorded her statement in 10 to 12 pages.

“I have told the magistrate about the rape complaint I gave in New Delhi, my missing spectacles and a chip from the hostel room. I also informed about the bedding and liquor bottles, which were removed from the Chinmayanand’s room,” the woman had told the media.

The woman had alleged that Chinmayanand filmed her having a bath and then raped her using the video as blackmail.

Her allegations first came to light when her Facebook video alleging assault and threats went viral. While she had not named Chinmayanand in the video, her father later named him.

The woman had disappeared and was later found in Rajasthan after the video went viral. She was brought to Delhi on the directions of the Supreme Court.

This is not the first instance of a woman accusing Chinmayanand or rape. A woman had made eerily similar allegations against him in 2011.

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