LUCKNOW: Two separate teams of Shajahanpur police brought former Union minister and rape accused Chinmayanand and the accuser LLM student to Lucknow for taking their voice samples at the Forensic Science Laboratory on Wednesday.
The voice samples are being tested both of Chinmayanand and the LLM student, 23, who had accused him of rape and harassment for over a year, to corroborate the audio-visual evidence in the case. Notably, the LLM student is also in jail in judicial remand on charges of a bid of extortion of Rs 5 crore and blackmailing Chinmayanand.
A number of video clips were released from both the parties on social media to substantiate their respective charges against each other. Moreover, three friends of the alleged rape victim are also in jail in connection with the extortion case. Their voice samples will also be taken and tested.
As per the jail sources, Chinmayanand was brought to Lucknow at 6 AM and the law student at about 9 AM. Both were taken directly to FSL in the state capital for their voice test.
The jail sources claimed that rest of the three extortion case accused – Sanjay Singh, Sachin Sengar and Vikram Singh – were also taken to Lucknow after 11 am.
According to Shahjahanpur SP Dinesh Tripathi, both Chinamayanand and the girl were taken in compliance of the court orders to take their voice samples.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Omvir Singh on October 4 had ordered that voice samples of Chinmayanand, the law student and three others be taken.
The video evidence in possession of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the rape and extortion cases are crucial.
As per the SIT, the accused of both the cases have admitted that the respective clips had their voices and their presence. Even the video clips have been found genuine without any tampering or editing at the FSL Lucknow.
However, the voices in the video clips too need to be confirmed by the authorities concerned so that the clips could be produced as incriminatory evidence in the cases.
Chinamayanand was arrested by the SIT on September 20 after being booked under section 376C, a charge short of rape, on the basis of the complaint filed by the 23-year-old woman who studies at a college run by his Mumukshu ashram in Shahjahanpur. He is currently in judicial custody till October 16.
The girl, on the other hand, has been charged with extortion, following a complaint by the Chinmayanand's lawyer that she and three others were demanding money from the leader while threatening him with maligning his image in society by releasing his videos.