An FIR was lodged against former Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Swami Chinmayanand on Tuesday, over the abduction of a law student who accused him of sexual harassment and "destroying the lives of several girls".
The complaint was filed by the girl's father after she went missing from the hostel of SS Law College in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district.
The girl, last week, had posted a video on social media alleging that Chinmayanand, the director of her college, was threatening to kill her and her family because she had evidence against him. She had also accused the BJP leader of "destroying the lives of several girls" and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for help.
"I am (name withheld) from Shahjahanpur and am pursuing LL.M from SS College. A big leader of the saint society, who has destroyed the lives of several girls, has been threatening me with (my) life. I have all the evidences against him. I request Modi ji and Yogi ji to please help me. He has even threatened to kill my family," she said in the video.
"Only I know what I have been going through. Modi ji please help me, he is a sanyasi and is threatening that the police, district magistrate and everyone else is on his side and no one can harm him. I request you all for justice," she added.
"Our team is investigating and the girl's father has been provided security," said Shahjahanpur Superintendent of Police S. Chanappa on Wednesday. He said the video will be probed by senior officers, and action will be taken against those guilty.
The former minister of state for Home was booked under IPC Sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Chinmayanand's lawyer Om Singh claimed that the leader was being blackmailed and had received a WhatsApp message demanding Rs 5 crore. He said an FIR was lodged over this on August 25. The lawyer also dismissed the charges made by the woman and her father. "There is not an iota of truth in their claims," he said.
Chinmayanand, a three-time Lok Sabha MP, was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. In 2011, he was accused of rape by an inmate of his ashram.
(With agency inputs.)
