Shahjahanpur (UP), Feb 2 (PTI) Former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand said on Friday that within seven years the country's leadership will be in the hands of a person who is "beloved to me".

Speaking to reporters at the Mumukshu Ashram auditorium here a day after being acquitted in a sexual abuse case, he said the country is changing and the changes that are coming are "certainly positive".

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"And within seven years, the leadership of this country will be in the hands of a person who is 'beloved (Ladla) to me," the former minister of state for home said, without identifying the "beloved".

Talking about his relationship with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, he recollected having told him during a visit that, "Yogi Adityanath you are changing Gorakhpur into Dwarkapuri, while I want to make Shahjahanpur, Sudamapuri!"

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A case of sexual exploitation was filed in 2011 against Chinmayanand, also the founder of the Mumukshu Ashram, by one of his students who later became a teacher in his college. A Shahjahanpur court on Thursday acquitted him in the case.

Expressing happiness over the court decision, the former Union Minister said, "We respect the court and today I have been acquitted of all sins and allegations. My passport has been confiscated since 2011 due to which I was not able to participate in international seminars."

Chinmayanand's advocate Firoz Hasan Khan had said Thursday that Additional District Judge Ehsan Hussain of the local MP-MLA court acquitted Chinmayanand due to lack of evidence.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)