A woman law student from Uttar Pradesh who went missing a day after putting up a video accusing influential BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand of sexual harassment has been traced to Rajasthan by police.
Confirming that she was located in Rajasthan on Friday, the Uttar Pradesh Police tweeted, “In Shahjahanpur episode the girl has been located by Shahjahanpur police in Rajasthan along with her friend. Necessary legal action is being taken.”
The woman’s disappearance made national headlines as she went missing just a day after she put up a video on social media accusing former Union minister and influential Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Swami Chinmayanand of sexual harassment.
The woman is a student at a college run by Chinmayanand’s trust in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur. She went missing on August 24, a day after she posted the video on social media.
In video, the woman accused Chinmayanand of having “ruined lives of many girls” including hers. She claimed to possess “all evidence” against Swami Chinmayanand, who she says, “is very powerful and the DM [district magistrate] and SP [superintendant of police] can’t act against him.”
She did not name Chinmayanand in the video but referred to “a senior leader of the sant community”.
Prasanta Patnaik