Court extends Chinmayanand’s judicial custody till October 16

The Shahjahanpur district court on Thursday extended former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand’s judicial custody till October 16. The court will hear the plea of the special investigation team (SIT) seeking his custody on Friday. The SIT had moved an application to take the accused to Lucknow for voice sampling.

Chinmayanand was produced before the court through video conferencing on Thursday.

Earlier on September 30, the district court had refused him bail, observing the offence as ‘grave’ in nature.

The former Union minister was booked under Section 376-C of the IPC, a charge short of rape, on the complaint of the 23-year-old woman law student.

The woman was arrested on September 25 on charges of extortion. She has been charged with extortion following a complaint by Chinmayanand’s lawyer that she and three others --Sanjay Singh, Sachin Singh, and Vikram-- were demanding money from Chinamyanand.

The district court has already rejected bail applications of both, Chinmayanand and the woman.

Earlier, the SIT submitted before the district court that it had to gather more information from the electronic evidence in both cases. Some video clips surfaced during the investigations which were made the case property, besides the pen drive given by the woman.

An official requesting anonymity said, “The voice sampling is a must for the case. The court will hear the plea and if it permits, accused Chinmayanand, woman, Sachin, Sanjay and Vikram will be taken to Lucknow for the test.”