A special court trying MPs and MLAs in Lucknow on Friday acquitted former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Chinmayanand in a sexual assault case ...
A special court trying MPs and MLAs in Lucknow on Friday acquitted former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Chinmayanand in a sexual assault case involving a law student in Uttar Pradesh, the Hindustan Times reported.
“The court has discharged Swami Chinmayanand from all charges,” said Om Singh, the lawyer who was representing Chinmayanand in court. Special Judge PK Rai said that the prosecution could not prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, according to The Times of India.
The court also acquitted the student and her colleagues of charges of attempting to extort Chinmayanand of Rs 5 crore. The former Union minister had lodged a case of extortion against them, but the court said it could not find any evidence.
The court noted that all the witnesses had turned hostile in both cases.
In October, the 23-year-old law student had disowned her own statement before the special court. The woman denied that she had made any allegations against Chinmayanand.
In August 2019, the woman had gone missing soon after posting a video detailing her alleged ordeal at the hands of Chinmayanand. Although she did not mention anyone, her father named Chinmayanand in a missing persons complaint. The police then booked Chinmayanand on kidnapping charges, and watered down sexual assault charges, but not rape.
The woman was found in Rajasthan later, and was produced in the Supreme...
