The special investigation team probing sexual assault case against former Union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand has recovered a purse of the complainant from a drain, which she had said had gone missing, sources said on Saturday. The investigators are now looking for the spy camera-fitted spectacles of the law student which she had allegedly used to record evidence of sexual exploitation.
The purse was found in the drain near Mumukshu Ashram of Chinmayanand. The development comes a day after the complainant’s father and mother were interrogated by the SIT in connection with the extortion case filed by Chinmayanand against their daughter.
Chinmayanand has been booked under section 376C of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which is usually applied in cases where a person abuses his position to “induce or seduce” a woman under his charge to have “sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape.”
The Allahabad High Court had on October 30 fixed November 8 to hear the bail plea of Chinmayanand who has been arrested in the case. Justice Rahul Chaturvedi had asked the prosecution to file its reply to the bail plea by November 4 and the defence counsel to file his counter reply by November 7.
The bail plea of the law student, arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from the former Union minister, will be heard on November 6.
The case came to spotlight when the 23-year-old complainant went missing on August 24 after posting a video on social media alleging that a “senior leader of the seer community” was harassing and threatening her. She did not name Chinmayanand in the video. But when she went missing, her father blamed Chinmayanand for her disappearance. She was later traced to Rajasthan. The Supreme Court took cognisance of the alleged rape and directed the UP government to form an SIT to probe the matter under the Allahabad high court’s supervision. The woman has alleged Chinmayanand raped and physically exploited her for over a year. Chinmayanand was arrested on September 20 under the Indian Penal Code Section 376-C (sexual intercourse by a person in authority), 354-D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
The former MPs lawyer filed a counter case of extortion against the complainant, alleging the student and her three friends made an extortion demand of Rs 5 crores. She was arrested on September 25.