LUCKNOW: Former Union Minister Chianmayanand alias Krishna Pal Singh got a major reprieve, on Friday when the special court of Lucknow acquitted him in a case of illegal confinement with an intent to exploit an LLM student sexually.
The victim had been pursuing an LLM course from SS Law College run by Mumukshu Ashram of Chinmayanand in Shahjahanpur.
Meanwhile, the law student, who along with a few of her acquaintances, was facing a case of extortion and blackmailing, filed against her by the former union minister, was also absolved of the charges by the court.
The girl’s father had lodged an FIR against Chinmayanand in Kotwali police station in Shahjahanpur on August 27, 2019.
Pronouncing the judgment on Friday, special judge PK Rai said that the prosecution could not prove its case beyond reasonable doubt whereas the victim had already turned hostile in the case withdrawing her charges against the accused during the course of the trial.
At the time of the pronouncement of judgement, all the accused persons including Chinmayanand were present in the court.
The court had recorded acquittal because all witnesses of facts had turned hostile in both cases.
It may be recalled that in his FIR, the victim’s father had alleged that his daughter was pursuing LLM and was staying in the college hostel and that her mobile phone was switched off from August 23, 2019.
He had claimed in his complaint that when he checked his daughter’s profile on Facebook, he found that she was being threatened for life by Chinmayanand and his associates as the former union minister had been exploiting her sexually.
The victim's father had expressed apprehension that something untoward had happened to his daughter.
He had maintained that he was not able to contact Chinmayanand as the latter's mobile phone was also switched off.
However, the girl along with one of her friends was traced by UP police to Jaipur where she was staying in a hotel with him.
In the meantime, the girl had moved Supreme Court and it had issued directives to the state government to set up a Special Investigation Team and the probe must be conducted under Allahabad High Court’s monitoring.
Meanwhile, Chinmayanad was arrested in the case on September 20, 2019, and sent to jail.
Later, the investigation was completed and the charge sheet against him was filed on November 4, 2019, under sections 376 (C), 354(d) 342 and 506 of IPC.
On the other hand, Om Prakash Singh, the defence lawyer representing Chinamayanand, lodged an FIR on August 25, 2019, at the same police station against the law student and her three acquaintances for allegedly blackmailing Chinmayanand and demanding Rs 5 crore from him as extortion.
The law students were also arrested and sent to jail with other co-accused including Sanjai Singh, DPS Rathore, Vikram Singh, Sachin Singh and Ajeet Singh.
The charge sheet against the law students and her friends was filed in this case on November 4, 2019.
They were booked under Sections 385, 506, 507, 201 of IPC and Section 3 and 4 of the IT Act.
During the course of the trial, the law student had withdrawn all her allegations against the former union minister saying that she came under the pressure of certain persons in Shajahanpur and was forced to level such charges against Chinamayanand.