A 23-year-old law student from Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur, around 200 kilometres from the state capital Lucknow, has accused the politician of kidnapping and rape for more than a year. The girl is studying at a college managed by the former minister.
Opposition leaders and civil society members have been accusing the ruling party of protecting the strongman as he wasn't even charged with rape for almost a month after the woman filed a police complaint.
A video purportedly showing the BJP leader getting a massage from the law student also surfaced last week. The girl claimed that she was allegedly brought to his room at gunpoint but recorded the video of massage using a spycam.
Later on Monday, the girl approached a court and recorded her statement in detail. The girl claimed that Chinamayanand allegedly filmed her taking a bath and blackmailed her with the video and raped her.
On 2 September, India’s top court ordered an enquiry by a special investigation team and also directed the Allahabad High Court, the top court in Uttar Pradesh, to set up a bench to monitor an investigation against former Junior Minister for Home Affairs Swami Chinmayanand.
Chinmayanand is the second leader of the governing nationalist BJP to be embroiled in recent a sexual exploitation case. A sitting legislator from Uttar Pradesh, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, is already in jail facing similar charges.