SIT records statements of law student family members

The Special Investigation Team on Sunday recorded statements of the family members of a law student, who has accused former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand of harrassing her. The SIT had called the family members at the district Police Lines in the afternoon for recording of their statement.

When contacted, the woman's father said on phone that investigation is going on. "Investigation is going on. I could speak to you as I had come outside," he said. The SIT, probing allegations of harassment levelled by the law student against former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand, on Saturday visited his residence, ashram and the college run by him where she studied, according to the college principal.

The SIT, headed by Inspector General of Police Naveen Arora, has been set up by the UP government on the Supreme Court's order. While police remain tightlipped on the probe, the principal of Swami Shukdevanand Post Graduate College, where the woman studied, said the SIT which arrived here Thursday night also visited Divya Dham, the residence of Swami Chinmayanand but could not meet him as he was out of town.

The team also visited the Mukukshu Ashram of the BJP leader and toured the five colleges run by the ashram, Principal Avnish Misra had told PTI yesterday. The team visited the college hostel where the room of the law student has already been sealed, he said.

A woman IPS officer spoke to the teachers and girl students of the college and took inputs from them, Misra said. "The team later visited Divya Dham of Swami Chinmyanad but could not meet him as he is out of station," Misra said.

The members of the team including IPS officers Bharti Singh, PS Anand and others asked questions about the woman to the students pursuing LLM. They also spoke to her friend who was found with her in Rajasthan, he said. The team also visited the residence of the woman but found it locked and returned.

The apex court had said that an Allahabad High Court bench will monitor the probe. The woman had gone missing after levelling allegations against Chinmayanand in a video and was later found in Rajasthan by the UP police.

The apex court judges said the woman had raised certain grievances against the institution where she studied and her mother and father have some apprehensions about the safety of their children. The Shahjahanpur Police had on August 27 lodged an FIR against Chinmayanand after the student went missing following her allegation in a video clip.

Her father had filed a complaint with police accusing Chinmayanand of sexually harassing her, a charge refuted by the BJP leader's lawyer who claimed it was a "conspiracy" to blackmail him. The woman's father had alleged that she went missing at the behest of the 72-year-old BJP leader, who heads Mumukshu Ashram.

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