Law student turns hostile in Chinmayanand ‘rape’ case

LUCKNOW: The 23-year-old LLM student who had accused former BJP MP Chinmayanand of sexual exploitation last year, turned hostile before a special MP-MLA court in Lucknow on Tuesday.
The court was hearing the case on the direction of the Allahabad high court. The student appeared before the court on Tuesday and categorically denied that she had made any allegations against the former minister as the prosecution had charged.
Stunned over the development, the prosecution team immediately moved an application under Section 340 of CrPC seeking action against her for perjury. Judge PK Rai directed his office to register the application and asked the prosecution to furnish a copy of the application to the woman and the accused. The court fixed October 15 for hearing on the application.
The woman was a student of a law college run by Chinmayanand’s ashram in Shahjahanpur and had accused him of sexual exploitation. The case hogged national headlines when the woman vanished and appeared before the Supreme Court. UP government formed an SIT to probe the case. Later, Chinmayanad also alleged that she was trying to extort money from him. The two lodged counter-FIRs and later both were arrested. The two are now out on bail.
Chinmayanand was arrested on September 20, 2019. The investigation officer filed charge sheet against him under Section 376 (C), 354(D), 342 and 506 of IPC. The IO cited 33 witnesses and 29 documentary evidence in a 13-page chargesheet. The former minister was released on bail in February.