Shahjahanpur: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the Shahjahanpur rape case, has sealed the Divya ashram of the accused BJP leader and former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand.
Swami Chinmayanand, who was interrogated by the SIT Thursday night for almost seven hours, has also been placed under house arrest.
“All the rooms in the ashram have been sealed and only one room has been left open. A heavy deployment of force has been made outside the ashram. Forensic teams are being called in to take evidences from the bedroom of the accused and other rooms,” a police official informed Friday.
The SIT had earlier searched the hostel room of the victim after which her father claimed that evidences locked in the room were missing.
Swami Chinmayanand accused of sexual misconduct by a law student was questioned late into Thursday night at the Reserve Police Lines here. He was accompanied by his lawyer Om Singh.
Earlier Thursday, the SIT had also recorded the statement of SS Law College principal Sanjay Kumar Baranwal and secretary Avanish Misra.
According to reports, Chinmayanand was interrogated on the allegations leveled by the law student, as well as on a video clip showing him getting a massage by a girl.
The 72-year-old reportedly denied the allegations and claimed that he was being asked for money by some boys and when he refused to pay, they hatched the conspiracy against him.
The 23-year-old postgraduate student has alleged that she was raped repeatedly and ‘physically exploited’ for a year by the BJP leader, whose organisation runs several colleges in Shahjahanpur.
The law student also alleged that some vital evidence have been removed from her hostel room by Chinmayanand’s supporters before it was sealed by the police. Her father alleged that they removed from the room a pair of spectacles with a camera fitted in them, suggesting that this contained evidence against the BJP leader.
It should be stated here that August 24, the student had posted a video on Facebook in which she alleged the former Union Minister had exploited many girls, including her. She also claimed to possess proof against Swami Chinmayanand. After posting the video, she went missing.
IANS