india

Updated: Sep 12, 2019 04:27 IST

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the allegations against former BJP MP Swami Chinmayanand, on Wednesday questioned two of his aides and his lawyer at his ashram in Shahjahanpur.

Members of the SIT, headed by inspector general (IG) of police, Naveen Arora, also quizzed Chinmayanand on Tuesday and for a bit on Wednesday. Tuesday marked the first time he was questioned by the police. On Sunday, the team spoke to the young woman, and her father and brother.

The team also took the young woman, who has accused Chinmayanand of raping and physically exploiting her for a year, for medical examination to the district hospital, said a police official who asked not to be named.

The medical examination may lead to the police registering a rape case against Chinmayanand, said another police official who, too, did not want to be named.

The rape case was originally lodged by the woman in Delhi on Saturday but was later handed over to the SIT, which is expected to lodge a case at the Kotwali police station of Shahjahanpur.

The SIT team also continued its search for evidence in the woman’s hostel room.

A postgraduate student at a law college owned by a trust headed by Chinmayanand, the woman went missing on August 24, a day after posting a video alleging that a “senior leader of the seer community” was harassing and threatening to kill her. She did not name Chinmayanand in the video, though. The Supreme Court took cognisance of the matter and directed the state government to form an SIT to probe the matter.

The court’s intervention came even as the woman was apprehended in Jaipur by the Uttar Pradesh police and was being taken back to the state. The court ordered her brought to Delhi so that she could speak to the judges. Until then, the Uttar Pradesh police seemed to be buying into the theory floated by Chinmayanand’s men that the young woman was trying to extort money from him.

On Saturday, while still in Delhi, the woman claimed she was raped by Chinmayanand for a year.

Meanwhile, terming the whole episode a conspiracy against him, Chinmayanand expressed full faith in the SIT probe.

“I have full faith in the SIT team and everything will be clear once it is completed. This is a conspiracy against me,” Chinmayanand told news agency, PTI.