The Supreme Court has ordered an SIT probe into the allegations of sexual harassment and kidnapping made against the Chinmayanand. The Uttar Pradesh government, on Tuesday evening, set up the SIT under Inspector General of Police (Public Grievance) Naveen Arora. He will be assisted by Bharti Singh, IPS, commandant of the 41st PAC Battalion, Ghaziabad.
Arora will have freedom to select other officials in his team to probe the allegations levelled against Chinmayanand by the law student, along with FIRs registered in Shahjahanpur in this matter.
Meanwhile, Chinmayanand's lawyer Om Singh said his client was innocent and was being framed. "The allegations will not hold water in court," he said.
The Shahjahanpur police have maintained they could not find Chinmayanand at any of his ashrams in Haridwar and Dehradun.
On the directions of the Supreme Court, the law student will stay in Delhi till September 12, while her parents are expected to return to Shahjahanpur under security of Delhi Police, after appearing in the apex court on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old law student had posted a video on Facebook on August 24 in which she alleged that the former Union minister had sexually exploited many girls, including her, and that she possessed proof of her allegations, after which she went missing.
Her father then filed an FIR against Chinmayanand under IPC Sections 364 (abduction) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The law student was traced to Rajasthan's Dausa district on August 30.
On the orders of the Supreme Court, a UP Police team accompanied her from a hotel near Mehndipur Balaji temple in Dausa and produced her in the Supreme Court the same day.
( With inputs from IANS )