This Article is From Nov 06, 2019

"All Evidence Prove Charges Against Chinmayanand, Law Student": UP Cops To Court

The probe team investigating the cases against Chinmayanand says both the chargesheets run into 20 pages each and it is now upto the court to take cognizance. If it does, then a trial will start in both the cases.

Chinmayanand has been accused of rape by a 23-year-old law student.

Lucknow:

A special investigation team of Uttar Pradesh Police has filed chargesheets against jailed former Union Minister Chinmayanand in a rape case against a 23-year-old law student and also a separate case of extortion in which the student and her associates are under arrest for allegedly blackmailing the BJP leader.

The police, in the two chargesheets, say that all the analysed evidence against the powerful politician and the student prove the charges against them.

"We managed to file chargesheets in less than two months. In both investigations, we questioned 105 people, recovered 20 pieces of evidence and also a lot of digital evidences and Call Data Records. We recovered 55 paper trails and are submitting case diaries and chargesheets running into 4,700 pages," aid Mr Naveen Arora, the head of the special investigation team (SIT).

Chinmayanand has been charged under a law that deals with rape but a sub-section has been applied in his case, which deals with "misusing authority for sexual intercourse"; it appears to be a watered-down charge 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.

On Tuesday, a BJP leader and his associate were booked in connection with the extortion case against Chinmayanand, who is currently in jail. The law student has also been jailed after police charged her with extortion, criminal intimidation and "disappearance of evidence".

The police identified the BJP leader as DPS Rathore, the younger brother of JPS Rathore, the vice president of the party's Uttar Pradesh unit. Police said DPS Rathore was involved in a conspiracy to blackmail Chinmayanand and was helping the law student extort money.

Police also claimed Mr Rathore and his associates later tried to strike a separate deal with Chinmayanand for Rs 1.25 crore, after convincing the law student to surrender a copy of the tapes that allegedly show her being sexually assaulted.

DPS Rathore has not yet been arrested, according to police, but his name has bee included in the chargesheet in the extortion case.

The charge sheets, presented before a court in western UP's Shajahanpur town on Wednesday afternoon, were filed about 45 days after Chinmayanand and the law student were both arrested in the matter of a few days for their role in the respective cases.

The probe team investigating the two cases says both the chargesheets run into 20 pages each and it is now upto the court to take cognizance. If it does, then a trial will start in both the cases.

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