Chinmayanand appears before court, next hearing on Jan 20

Former Union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, who has been accused of sexual exploitation by a law student, appeared before a local court in Shahjahanpur on Monday. Chinmayanad was brought to the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Omvir from the jail amidst tight security, said his counsel Om Singh. He said the court has fixed January 20 as the next date for hearing.

The counsel for the law student, Kalvinder Singh, said she could not appear before the court as she was unwell. Chinmayanand, whose trust runs Shahjahanpur Law College, where the student studied, was arrested under Section 376C of the IPC, an offence pertaining to abuse of one's position by a person in authority to "induce or seduce" a woman under his charge to have "sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape".

Chinmayanand also faces charges of stalking under Section 354D, wrongful confinement under Section 342 and criminal intimidation under Section 506 of the IPC. The 23-year-old law student, who was arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand, was released on bail on December 11. The former Union minister had alleged that they had threatened to make public some video clips that showed him getting a massage from the law student, who was arrested on September 25.