Chinmayanand Case Explained: Phone Records Hint At Conspiracy; Abducted Girl Spotted In Delhi With Extortionist

A new twist has emerged in the infamous Shahjahanpur Chinmayanand case.

The girl allegedly abducted after releasing a video saying she was sexually harassed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Swami Chinmayanand has been spotted in Delhi.

A CCTV footage showed that the Shahjahanpur girl was staying in a hotel in Dwarka in southwest Delhi on 23 August. However, she was gone by the time Police reached the location. A man was also spotted with her in the footage.

The Police recovered Aadhaar card, submitted as address proof, from the Delhi hotel which showed that the accompanying boy was also from Shahjahanpiur. The duo shifted to a different hotel on 25 August, the police was quoted as saying by India Today.

Using their mobile phone records, Police discovered that the both of them were in touch for the past several days and had stayed together in Delhi. The Police was also able to trace the location and the route taken by the duo to reach Delhi from Shahjahanpur.

The boy reportedly made an extortion call to the BJP leader demanding Rs 5 crore, after the girl, a student of Shahjahanpur's SS College, disappeared. Meanwhile, the girl’s father lodged a police complaint holding Swami Chinmayanand responsible.

In the counter-complaint, the supporters of the leader alleged that an anonymous call was made to Chinmayanand demanding Rs 5 crore and the caller threatened that if the money was not paid, videos would be put out on social media.

A day before she went missing, the girl had released a video on 23 August accusing Chinmayanand of sexual harassment and “destroying lives of several girls" studying in the SS College, of which the BJP leader is a director.

The father of the girl told PTI that her mother had visited the hostel after the reports of her being missing, but found the hostel room locked.

It is to be noted that the girl was at the Delhi hotel (23 August) the day she released the video. Police also said that the girl was in contact with her family till 24 August, after which the couple might have changed their numbers.

The father said that after the hostel visit, the girl’s mother spoke to Chinmayanand over the phone, who told her that he is in Haridwar and would search for the missing girl after returning. The father alleged that the BJP leader’s phone had been switched-off since.

An FIR was lodged against former Union minister and BJP leader Chinmayanand on 27 August, booked under IPC sections related to kidnapping, criminal intimidation:

With Kuldeep Sengar rape case already in the limelight, BJP government in the state was slammed over the incident. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took to Twitter and said that the episode appeared to be a “repetition” of the Unnao case.

Both the National Commission for Women and Uttar Pradesh Women Commission also expressed concern and a group of Supreme Court lawyers filed a petition to the Chief Justice of India to take suo moto cognisance of the case.

However, Chinmayanand maintains that he is innocent and being implicated in order to extort money from him.

"This is a conspiracy against me and the girl in question is a part of it. There are four other boys who had earlier tried to blackmail me and extort money," the minister had earlier told a TV channel, adding that the conspiracy’s goal is to malign the image of Yogi Adityanath government.

The investigation is underway and the Police are working to identify the place and family of the boy that accompanied the victim.