A 23-year-old law student in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur who had gone missing from her college hostel after accusing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Swami Chinmayanand of sexual harassment, has been traced in Rajasthan.
The woman, a student of Swami Shukdevanand Law College, was found in Rajasthan along with a friend. She was picked up on Friday (August 30) morning by a team of the Uttar Pradesh Police.
Taking to Twitter, the UP Police said, "In Shahjahanpur episode the girl has been located by Shahjahanpur police in Rajasthan along with her friend. Necessary legal action is being taken."
The woman had posted a video on social media on August 23 where she accused the former Union minister of threatening her and her family because she had evidence that could prove her claims. The SS College law student went missing on August 24, a day after she posted the video.
Chinmayanand is also the director of the law college.
The woman has accused Chinmayanand of having "ruined lives of many girls" including hers. Without taking the name of the BJP leader, the girl said, "a senior leader of the sant community is very powerful and the DM [district magistrate] and SP [superintendant of police] can't act against him."
Based on the girl's video, the father blamed Chinmayanand following which the police filed a case three days after she went missing. Chinmayanand was charged with kidnapping and criminal intimidation but the former MP, however, rejected the charges. Chinmayanand's lawyer asserted that the allegations were false and an attempt to extort the politician.
Speaking to news agency IANS, Chinmayanand's lawyer Om Singh stated that the BJP leader was being blackmailed and had been asked to pay Rs 5 crore. The lawyer said he believed the girl's video and the blackmail attempt were probably linked. "There is not an iota of truth in their claims," he said.
Three-time Lok Sabha MP, Chinmayanand, was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Back in 2011, the former MP was accused of rape by an inmate of his ashram.
