Why were bail pleas of Chinmayanand and law student rejected?

The Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) submissions that all evidences in the rape case against Swami Chinmayanand and the extortion case against the law student were verified by Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) ensured that both the accused remained behind bars.

On Monday, bail applications of former BJP minister Swami Chinmayanand and the law student who accused him of rape were declined by district judge (Shahjahanpur), Ram Babu Sharma.

The court heard Chinmayanand’s bail plea going by the cause list. His lawyer Om Singh urged the court to grant bail while the SIT’s counsel (government lawyer) Anuj Kumar Singh contended that the evidences against Chinmayanand had been verified by the forensic lab.

Singh told the court that the woman, in her statement before judicial magistrate, alleged that Chinmayanand tore her clothes if she refused to accept Chinmayanand’s demands.” The prosecution quoted statements of four witnesses to support the law student’s allegations.

The court was informed that SIT had evidences to support the woman’s claim as well as the link between her and Chinmayanand.

“The woman and Chinmayanand talked to each other for at least six hours from June 1 to August 30 this year, as 230 calls were exchanged between them,” the SIT submitted before the court.

What went against the woman?

The woman’s lawyer Anup Trivedi contended that she was falsely implicated by Chinmayanand. He said neither she uploaded any obscene video nor was she linked with any extortion message. The woman had no criminal record and the others arrested in the extortion case also had not admitted to any allegation, said the lawyer.

However, the SIT submitted, “The woman was with the three accused held earlier for attempt of extortion when that message was sent. We have the call records to support the argument.” The SIT also submitted that the woman, along with her aides, was planning extortion for the last eight months.

As per SIT, the woman and Chinmayanand exchanged 230 calls and talked for six hours in three months before August 30. During the same period, the woman exchanged 4,200 calls with a co-accused Sanjay in the extortion case. The SIT added that the driver of the car in which the woman and her aides travelled testified her involvement in the case before the judicial magistrate.

What next?

Chinmayanand’s 14-day judicial custody will end on October 3. The SIT will seek an extension of his custody as the FSL report on the 64-GB pen drive containing over 40 videos given by the woman to investigators was yet to come. The SIT has also sent the phones of Chinmayanand and the woman to the forensic lab and the report was awaited, said officials.