Court permits SIT to collect voice samples of Chinmayanand, law student

While the woman has accused Chinmayanand of rape and blackmail, the former minister has alleged that she and three others sent him an extortion message. All the five accused, currently in judicial custody in district jail Shahjahanpur, had objected on Friday to the SIT’s plea to take them to Lucknow.

The Shahjahanpur district and sessions court on Saturday allowed the special investigation team (SIT) to take rape accused former union minister Swami Chinmayanand, the accuser woman (who is herself accused in an extortion case) and three others for voice sampling.

Shahjahanpur: Former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand, accused of rape by a law student, is seen outside a government hospital after a medical examination following his arrest by a special team of Uttar Pradesh police, in Shahjahanpur, Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. (PTI Photo) (PTI9_20_2019_000009A) (PTI)

On Thursday, the SIT had moved an application before chief judicial magistrate Omvir Singh, seeking permission to take all five accused to a Lucknow lab for the voice sample.

While the woman has accused Chinmayanand of rape and blackmail, the former minister has alleged that she and three others sent him an extortion message. All the five accused, currently in judicial custody in district jail Shahjahanpur, had objected on Friday to the SIT’s plea to take them to Lucknow. The woman’s lawyer Anoop Trivedi said, “Counsels for all accused had opposed the plea.”

Counsels for the accused had said that allowing the petition would be almost equal to allowing police remand. They also contended that the petition should have been filed within the stipulated time.

An official requesting anonymity said, “Voice sampling is a must in both the cases. If the court permits, all the accused , Chinmayanand, the woman, Sachin, Sanjay, and Vikram, will be brought to Lucknow for the test.”

Earlier, the SIT had submitted before the court that it had to gather more information from the electronic evidence collected in both the rape and the extortion cases.

Probe officials said that some video clips that surfaced during the investigation had been made case property in addition to the 64 GB pen-drive given by the victim to the sleuths. In some of these videos, which were widely shared on social media, there were allegedly some obscene conversations between the woman and Chinmayanand.

Another video, which relates to the extortion case, reportedly showed the woman, three others and the driver in a car. The woman and her three companions are allegedly heard discussing the extortion demand that Chinmayanand received on August 22. Driver Anoop claimed to have shot the video and reportedly later confirmed the woman’s involvement in the extortion demand.