Chinmayanand case: SIT finds purse of law student from drain

A special investigation team probing the sexual assault case against former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand has recovered a purse of the complainant from a drain, sources said on Saturday.

The investigators were now looking for the spy camera-fitted spectacles of the law student which she had used to record evidence of sexual exploitation by the 72-year-old former parliamentarian, they said.

The purse was found in the drain near Mumukshu Ashram of Chinmayanand.

The SIT had deployed labourers to search for the articles in the drain, after detailed interrogation of the student's mother and father on Friday, they said.

Chinmayanand has been booked under section 376C of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which is usually applied in cases where a person abuses his position to "induce or seduce" a woman under his charge to have "sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape".

He also faces charges under IPC sections 354D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The Allahabad High Court had on October 30 fixed November 8 to hear the bail plea of Chinmayanand who has been arrested in the case.

Justice Rahul Chaturvedi had asked the prosecution to file its reply to the bail plea by November 4 and the defence counsel to file his counter reply by November 7.

The bail plea of the law student, arrested for allegedly trying to extort money from the former Union minister, will be heard on November 6.