Special Investigation Team Formed To Probe Complaint Against UP BJP Leader

Acting under the Supreme Court's order, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe charges levelled by a Shahjahanpur woman against former Union minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand.

The SIT, which will be headed by an IG-rank police officer, will look into the two complaints filed in the high-profile case.

A statement issued by the UP Home Department said, "A decision has been taken by UP Chief Secretary RK Tiwari to constitute an SIT, which would be headed by a IG (Public Grievance) Naveen Arora."

Directions have also been issued by the state government to include policemen with a clean image in the probe panel.

"This SIT will ensure impartial investigation into the two cross FIRs filed in the Shahjahanpur case and also probe the allegations levelled," the statement said.

Instructions have been issued to Divisional Commissioner (Bareilly) and Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Jyotibha Phule Ruhelkhand University, Bareilly, to admit the law student and her brother at the university.

Directions have also been issued to the Superintendent of Police, Shahjahanpur to provide adequate security to the law student, her parents and other members of her family, it said.

The move by the UP government comes a day after the Supreme Court directed it to set up an SIT, headed by an IG-rank officer, to investigate the charges levelled by the woman.

The court had said that an Allahabad High Court bench will monitor the probe.

The law student had gone missing after levelling allegations against Chinmayanand in a video and was later found in Rajasthan by UP police.

The court said the woman had raised certain grievances against the institution where she studied and her mother and father had some apprehensions about the safety of their children.

The top court said the Delhi Police will accompany her parents to their residence in Shahjahanpur and the woman will continue her stay in the national capital till September 12.

The matter was listed for further hearing on September 5.