Image Credit: The Times Of India, India Today
UP: Former Minister Chinmayanand Acquitted In Shahjahanpur Rape Case; Law Student Also Cleared Of Extortion Charges
Delivering the verdict on March 26, the special MP-MLA court said that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond doubt and the victim also turned hostile during the trial.
A special court in Lucknow has acquitted former Union minister Chinmayanand of rape charges levelled against him by a law student in Shahjahanpur district. The court has also cleared the law student and others in an extortion case filed by former BJP MP Chinmayanand.
Delivering the verdict on Friday, March 26, the special MP-MLA court said that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond doubt and the victim also turned hostile during the trial.
Chinmayanand who served as a junior home minister in the Atal Bihari government had filed an extortion case against the law student, reported Times Now.
The Supreme Court had intervened in the case after the law student had gone missing in August 2019 leaving a video message behind claiming she was sexually exploited by the former union minister.
Later, the student's father filed an FIR at Shahjahanpur's Kotwali police station alleging that his daughter was pursuing LLM from a college run by Chinmayanand's trust. Her phone also went switched off on August 23, 2019.
Police had booked Chinmayanand under Sections 376C (using the position of power for sexual favour), 354D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
On August 25, Chinmayanand's lawyer filed an extortion case against the student and others alleging that she demanded Rs 5 crore from the ex-minister.
Later, police booked the law student and other accused under Section 385( extortion) and other sections of IPC.
The girl student had turned hostile during the course of trial and withdrew all charges against Chinmayanand in October 2020.
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Chinmayanand
Law Student