Swami Chinmayanand booked after girl alleging harassment goes missing in UP

The police here on Tuesday lodged an FIR against former Union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand after a student went missing following her allegation in video clip that he had been harassing her.

Her father had lodged a complaint accusing Chinmayanand of sexually harassing her, a charge refuted by his lawyer who claimed it was a "conspiracy" to blackmail him.

The 72-year-old BJP leader has been booked under IPC sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation), Shahjahanpur SP S Chanappa said.

In a video clip posted by the woman online, she said she was under threat from the leader of the sant community, without naming Chinmayanand or specifying the kind of harassment she allegedly faced.

But the woman's father on Tuesday alleged that she has gone missing at the behest of the former minister, who heads Mumukshu ashram. She is a post-graduate student in one of the colleges run by the ashram.

Her father filed a complaint with the police alleging that Chimayanand and "some others" sexually abused her and other girls.

Chimayanand has been a three-time Lok Sabha MP and was a minister of state in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

In the video, which went viral on social media on August 24, the woman alleged, "A senior leader of the sant community, who has already destroyed the lives of many girls, is now threatening to kill me."
Chinmayanand's lawyer dismissed the charges made by the woman and her father, saying, "There is not an iota of truth in their claims."
Elaborating on the sequence of events, he told PTI, "On August 22, Swami Chinmayanand got a WhatsApp message on his phone from an unknown number. The message said that if you do not give Rs five crore by this evening, then I will make videos viral on news channels. And do not try to act smart, as I have nothing to lose, but your reputation will be lost. Hence, make arrangements to give Rs 5 crore."