I-T raids premises of Cafe Coffee Day owner V G Siddhartha

New Delhi, Feb 3: The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted bail to former BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand in the alleged rape case of a law student. He was arrested in September last year after the 23-year-old woman accused him of sexual harassment and blackmail.

The woman was a student of the Chinmayanand-controlled SS Law College in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Chinmayanand is facing charges under Sections 376C (sexual intercourse by a person or persons taking advantage of their official position), 354 D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The case is being investigated by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed on the directions of the Supreme Court.

The case came to light after the woman posted a video on August 23 last year on social media alleging that “a senior leader of the saint community” was harassing and threatening to kill her. The law student went missing a day later, after which her father lodged a complaint, accusing Chinmayanand of harassing his daughter.

Chinmayanand was expelled from the BJP after his arrest.

The SIT had, on November 6, submitted chargesheet in the case.

In a parallel case, the woman was charged with trying to extort money from Chinmayanad. The Allahabad High Court granted her bail in that case in December last year.

Dharward, Jul 25: In a shocking incident, a man reportedly killed his wife and daughter by feeding them poison and ended his life by hanging in his house. The incident took place in Dharwad on Saturday. 

The deceased have been identified as Mounesh Pattar (36), his wife Arpita (28) and their four-year-old daughter Sukruta. 

Mounesh was working in a private company in Dharwad and was depressed from the last one week fearing job loss. 

It was alleged that he might lose his job as the management decided to remove more than 40 employees due to covid -19 lockdown.

On Friday late night, he reportedly gave poison to his wife and daughter and later committed suicide by hanging self. The incident came to light on Saturday morning.

A case is registered at Sub Urban police station and further investigation is on.

Bareilly, Jun 22: The All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam, a religious and social organisation headed by five senior clerics, has issued a fatwa to boycott Chinese products in the country.

The clerics said the community members should stand with the army and government in this hour.

Expressing concern over India-China face-off, National general secretary of All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam, Maulana Shahbuddin Rizvi expressed concern over the India-China face-off and said, "A fatwa has been passed for boycotting Chinese products on a query posted by a Bareilly-based resident. The clerics in the fatwa have condemned the conspiracy of China to encroach upon Indian land and the killing of our brave soldiers."

The panel of five clerics include national president of All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam Mufti Ashfaq Hussain Qadri, Mufti Iqbal Ahmad Misbahi, Mufti Tauqir Ahmad Qadri, Mufti Hashim Raza Khan and Qari Saghir Ahmad Rizvi.