The BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, accused of rape by a law student, has been arrested by a special team of Uttar Pradesh police from his residence in UP’s Shahjahanpur.
Subsequently, he was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a local court.
The 72-year-old leader hasn’t been charged with rape but extortion and threats. The police made the arrest five days after the woman detailed what she said was a year of sexual assault and blackmail before a court.
The 23-year-old woman, a student at a law college that Chinmayanand runs, on Monday went to a court and recorded her statement in the court of the chief judicial magistrate.
The woman has alleged that Chinmayanand sexually exploited her for a year after helping her with admission into his college.
The woman says she was raped repeatedly by the politician and then she decided to gather evidence against him and filmed him with a camera in her spectacles.
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The case surfaced when she went missing on August 24 after putting up a Facebook post without naming Chinmayanand.
When the UP police tracked her down after a week, the Supreme Court heard her allegations and ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into them.
The team questioned the woman, visited her hostel room and later questioned Chinmayanand for seven hours last week, but has yet to add rape charges against him.