Chinmayanand case: UP law student granted bail

More than two months after her arrest on charges of trying to extort money from former BJP MP Swami Chinmayanand, the law student, who has accused the former union minister of allegedly raping her, was on Wednesday granted bail by the Allahabad High Court.

According to the lawyers of the victim, the court observed that the special investigation team (SIT), which was probing the matter, had already filed the charge sheet in the case and that there was no need to keep her in jail.

Chinmayanand, who was arrested on charges of sexually exploiting the student, has also moved the High Court for bail.

The SIT has alleged that the victim and her three friends tried to ''blackmail'' the seer by threatening to make his alleged sex videos public. The three friends of the victim were also in jail.

The SIT claimed that it was in possession of a video purportedly containing conversation between the victim and her friends about the plan to extort money from the seer.

The victim had also claimed that she had several videos exposing the alleged sexual exploitation by the seer. The SIT had also claimed to have those videos, which have been submitted to the court to substantiate the charges against the former union minister.

The case had triggered nationwide outrage and the opposition parties had accused the state government of being soft on the seer, who also received support from several BJP and saffron leaders.