Chinmayanand case: Another accused in extortion case gets bail

In the latest development on the Chinmayanand case, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to a person, who along with three others, was charged for trying to extort money from former union minister. Chinmayanand filed a case of extortion against a law student in Shahjahanpur, who levied rape allegations on him, and her three friends – Sanjay, Sachin and Vikram. Following this, the four accused were arrested for allegedly blackmailing and trying to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand. 

The court granted bail to Sachin after giving the same to the law student. Meanwhile, Vikram has filed a bail plea in the court, which is slated to be heard next week. The Special Investigation Team probing sexual harassment allegations against Chinmayanand and the related extortion case filed a voluminous charge sheet in a court on November 6 in the two cases.

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Charges against Chinmayanand

The former Union minister was arrested on Sept 20 and is in jail after the 23-year-old law student filed a case against him under section 376C of the IPC, an offence pertaining to the abuse of position to "induce or seduce" a woman to have "sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape." This is a lesser charge than section 376, under which a rape convict faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The punishment under section 376C is between five and 10 years in jail.

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Chinmayanand produced in court

Chinmayanand was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Omvir amid tight security last week. His counsel Om Singh said the case diary made available to him by the SIT was incomplete and the court has directed for providing a complete case diary. The CJM court fixed December 16 as the next date for the hearing, prosecution counsel Lal Saheb said.

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(With ANI and PTI inputs)