Chinmayanand case: UP police claim missing girl spotted in Delhi

Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday claimed that the student who went missing after levelling allegations that she was being harassed by BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand has been spotted at a Delhi hotel.

But she had already left the hotel when a police team reached there, they said.

The post-graduate student has been missing since the surfacing of a video clip in which she accused a leader of the sant community of harassing her.

Her father alleged in a police complaint on Tuesday that she and other girls at a college run by Chinmayanand's ashram were harassed by the BJP leader, a former Union minister.

Apparently referring to videos clips shown to him by the police, indicating that she is in Delhi, he told a tv channel on Tuesday that they appeared suspicious.

With the student still missing, the National Commission for Women and Uttar Pradesh Women Commission have expressed concern.

On Twitter, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the episode appeared to be a repetition of Unnao case, in which BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, now expelled from the party, is accused of raping a minor.

Chinmayanand was booked on Tuesday under Indian Penal Code sections related to abduction and intimidation.

His lawyer has alleged a conspiracy to blackmail the politician to extort money.