LUCKNOW: In a major relief to the LLM student, who has accused former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand of harassment and rape, the court of Additional District Judge (ADJ) stayed her arrest till September 26 when the court will hear her plea for an anticipatory bail in the Rs 5 crore extortion case. The girl and her three friends were booked in the case lodged on the basis of the cross FIR done by Swami Chinmayanand.
Chinmayanand’s bail plea was rejected on Tuesday as the ADJ court asked his lawyer to move it in the sessions court. The ADJ also asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing into the matter to produce all the documents related to the extortion case on the day of next hearing. Earlier in the day, the SIT had detained the girl for questioning but released her after the court order.
As per the SIT chief I-G Naveen Arora, the probe into the extortion case had indicated girl’s involvement in it. On getting adequate evidence against her, further proceeding would be held, he had claimed. Consequently, the girl had moved a plea in the ADJ court seeking anticipatory bail as her arrest in the extortion case was imminent.
On Monday, the girl had moved Allahabad High Court which rejected her plea directing her to move it at the appropriate court. Three of her aides -- Sanjay Singh, Sachin Sengar and Vikram Singh -- are already in jail in connection with the extortion case. As per the sources, the three have allegedly admitted to their involvement in blackmailing and extortion bid of Rs 5 crore from Swami Chinmayanand through a mobile phone.
Even a video had gone viral on Social media showing the girl (complainant of rape case against Swami Chinmayanand) discussing extortion of Rs 5 crore with her three friends in a moving car. Meanwhile, as the court rejected the bail plea of all the three accused asking them to move sessions court, the SIT took Sachin and Vikram on a 95-hour remand for questioning. The SIT would take both the accused along to the site for recovery of the mobile phone allegedly used in making the extortion demand, sources in the probe team said.
According to the sources, the accused had told the SIT that they had thrown the mobile phone, which was used to make the alleged extortion call, near Mehandipur Balaji in Rajasthan. The two will be taken there to recover the device. The SIT has also sent the Chinmayanand lawyer's mobile phone, on which the alleged extortion message was sent, for forensic examination.
Meanwhile, the court rejected the bail application of Swami Chinmayanand on Tuesday. Shahjahanpur chief judicial magistrate rejected the bail application of Chinmayanand saying it should be moved in the sessions court, the former Union minister's counsel, Om Singh, said on Tuesday. The former Union minister was on Monday brought to Lucknow Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) for treatment after he complained of chest pain. Chinmayanand was admitted to the department of cardiology with symptoms of Angina.
The doctors had conducted his angiography under the supervision of Head of the Department Dr PK Goel. As per the medical bulletin of Chinmayanad released by PGI doctors, the Swami was still under observation and all his parameters, including blood pressure, were normal.