3 youth held for extortion call to Chinmayanand

Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Sep 20 (IANS) The Special Investigation Team (SIT) that arrested senior BJP leader Chinmayanand earlier in the day on charges of rape and blackmail of a law student has now arrested two cousins and a male friend of the alleged rape victim.

The three -- Sanjay Singh, Vikram alias Brajesh and Sachin Sengar alias Sonu -- have been arrested under the IT Act and for destroying evidence and extortion, said Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) O.P. Singh.

All the three have been produced in court and sent to judicial remand. The SIT recorded the statements of all the three which also corroborated with the statements of Chinmayanand's staff, who disclosed to the SIT that the three intended to extort money from Chinmayanand and were trying to negotiate with them.

The SIT had already interrogated Sanjay, a male companion of the alleged rape victim, a law student, in this regard.

"Sanjay Singh, the boy with whom the victim first came to Delhi from Shahjahanpur and then went to Rajasthan, initially struck the deal of Rs 5 crore with Chinmayanand. The second accused, Vikram alias Brajesh, helped them in making pen drives of the videos and upload them on social media and even distributed them to mediapersons," said Singh.

Chinmayanand had alleged that he was being asked to pay Rs 5 crore by some boys and the matter was linked to the allegations made by the law student.

A video showing the boys and the alleged victim talking about demanding money from the accused had gone viral on social media.

Singh said that there had been no delay in the action taken by the SIT. He said the videos and other material seized by the SIT had been sent for forensic examination.

The SIT will file a status report with the Allahabad High Court on September 23 mentioning the charges against the these boys.

Sources also said that the role of the victim who allegedly recorded the video is also being probed.