UP law student who accused Chinmayanand of rape likely to be quizzed

Lucknow, Sep 24: The law student who alleged she was raped by BJP's Chinmayanand likely to be taken by the Uttar Pradesh Police for questioning after she and her three friends were booked for extortion by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Reportedly, the law student was going to a local court in UP's Shahjahanpur for "protection from arrest" when the police intercepted her, took her outside and made her sit in a vehicle. The court has heard her plea and will give an order today.

The SIT booked the woman on charges of causing the disappearance of evidence. The former Union minister was arrested by the SIT on Friday and sent to 14 days' judicial custody.

Chinmayanand, 72, was sent to jail days after the law student detailed what she said was a year of sexual assault and blackmail before a court and close to a month after the allegations first surfaced. A local court has denied him bail and told him to approach the sessions court.

The BJP leader has been charged not with rape but the watered-down "misusing authority for sexual intercourse" or "sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape", which carries a punishment of five to 10 years in jail and a fine. A rape charge would have meant a seven-year jail term extending to a life term. He has also been charged with stalking, criminal intimidation, and wrongful confinement.

Chinmayanand was a union home minister for prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government.