india

Updated: Jul 04, 2020 22:27 IST

Chinmayanand, who was arrested last week over rape allegations, is no longer a BJP member, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the part said Wednesday.

“Chinmayanand isn’t a BJP member anymore,” UP BJP spokesperson Harish Srivastava confirmed to HT hours after his accuser, a 23-year-old law student from Shahjahanpur was arrested on charges of extortion by the special team probing the case.

But the party did not say when Chinmayanand exited the party.

Another BJP spokesperson Hero Bajpayee said, “Chinmayanand possibly did not renew his membership of the BJP”.

The comments are the first from the BJP since the scandal blew up in August.

A former Union minister, Chinmayanad was arrested on September 20, almost a month after the woman uploaded a video on social media alleging sexual assault and harassment. She had not named the BJP leader but her father went on to name Chinmayanad in a police complaint.

A day after his arrest, the former minister accepted that he took massages from the complainant and that he was ashamed of his conduct. He still has not admitted to raping her and he has not been charged for that offence.

Earlier in August, the BJP had expelled four-time MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, more than a year after he was arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl. The case was transferred to the CBI on July 30, two days after a truck rammed a car in which the survivor was travelling, critically injuring her and her lawyer and killing two of her aunts.