LUCKNOW: Former union minister and rape accused Swami Chinmayanand who allegedly had a sleepless night in jail, had planned his escape from his Mumukshu Ashram in Shahjahanpur the night before his arrest on Friday morning.
As per sources, Chinmayanand was about to flee to Haridwar on the pretext of going for medical check-up on the complaint of feeling restless and chest pain on Thursday night despite being warned categorically by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) against leaving Shahjahanpur.
As the SIT reached his ashram on Thursday night, he was stopped from visiting the hospital on his own. Chinamayanand, after being accused of rape and harassment of a 23-year-old law student, was arrested by the SIT after being booked under Section 376 C, 342, 354 D and 506 of IPC.
He was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody and he was sent to the district jail, same day.
The sources in Shahjahanpur claimed that the doctors in the district hospital, on Thursday, had referred Chinmayanand to King George’s Medical University in Lucknow for his deteriorating health.
“Chinmaynand refused to be taken to KGMU and preferred returning to his residence Divya Dham at his Ashram where he wanted to avail Ayurveda treatment,” said a source seeking anonymity.
In fact, it was an alleged tactic of Chinmayanand to escape in the darkness of night. Sources said, when Chinmayanand complained about restlessness and chest pain, the Ashram staff immediately called up the doctors including Dr ML Agarwal of Shahjahanpur state medical college and Dr KC Verma, who reached the Ashram with an ambulance.
The doctors conducted Electro Cardiogram (ECG) and advised him to get admitted to the hospital.
In the meantime, upon intimation, IPS Bharti Singh, a member of the SIT, arrived at the Ashram along with police force. She asked the doctors to verify in written that Chinmayanand’s condition
warranted him to be taken to hospital. Though the doctors claimed that his ECG report was not normal, he had to be taken to hospital for angiography.
This high voltage drama continued till 3 am on Friday when the doctors were allegedly reluctant to give a written advisory to shift Chinmaynand to hospital.
The SIT beefed up the security around the Ashram and Chinmaynand was taken into custody at 8.50 AM on Friday.