Shahjahanpur: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the sexual harassment case against former Union Minister Chinmayanand and the extortion case against the alleged victim, a law student, on Wednesday, filed charge sheets in both the cases. After a two-month-long investigation, the SIT filed the 20-page charge sheets in both cases. The case diary runs into 4,700 pages. The SIT also submitted 79 pieces of evidence and told the court that it had cross-examined 105 people during the investigations.
The SIT filed the charge sheet in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Om Vir Singh. All the accused, including Chinmayanand, the law student and her male companions Sanjay Singh, Vikram Singh, and Sachin Sengar, were present in court. They were brought from jail under tight security and a heavy police deployment had been made in the district court too. The charges were read out before them separately and the accused were returned to the court.
According to SIT chief Naveen Arora, the charge sheet also mentions that D.P.S. Rathore, a BJP leader, was also involved in an attempt to extort Rs 1.25 crore from Chinmayanand. Rathore is Shahjahanpur district cooperative bank chairman and a BJP leader. His aide Ajeet Kumar is the brother-in-law of one of the accused in the extortion case according to Arora. Rathore and Kumar have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for extortion, causing the disappearance of evidence and criminal intimidation. The SIT has yet not arrested them but has included their name.
Rathore and Kumar had told the woman and her friend Sanjay to hand over all pieces of evidence (stored in a pen drive) to them so that it could be kept safe. The SIT recorded statements of 105 people and added 24 pieces of physical evidence, and 55 documents in the charge sheet. The SIT has concluded the probe and will file a final status report on November 28.
SIT probe suggests that the evidence from the woman’s hostel room was removed by her and Sanjay Kumar-one of the accused in the extortion case. Two reports — 1) regarding the police functioning and 2) about lapses on the part of college administration — will be submitted to the government, he added. The High Court will hear the bail plea of the woman on November 6 and Chinmayanand’s bail plea on November 8. (IANS)