"A year ago, many officials were seen performing aarti of Chinmayanand," said Priyanka Gandhi.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the Chinmayanand case, alleging that a rape case was not filed as the administration was "protecting" the former union minister.

A post-graduate student from Shahjahanpur has accused Chinmayanand of rape.

Taking to Twitter, Priyanka Gandhi also posted a media report that claimed that administrative officials performed Chinamayanand's ''aarti'' a year ago.

"Just about a year ago, many administrative officials of Shahjahanpur were seen performing aarti of Chinmayanand. The matter was raised in newspapers," she said in a tweet in Hindi.

"Rape case was not filed despite the rape victim narrating her ordeal. How would it have been filed? When the whole administration was embracing and protecting him," the Congress general secretary in-charge UP East said.

The law student was on Wednesday arrested on charges of extortion and sent to 14-day judicial custody. Hours later, her bail plea was rejected.

Chinmayanand, sent to judicial custody after his arrest, has been booked under section 376C of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a charge with lesser punishment than rape.