Pollachi rape case: AIADMK worker, two more arrested

Pollachi rape case: AIADMK worker, two more arrested

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Coimbatore:  07.01.2021

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested three men, including an AIADMK student wing functionary, in connection with the sensational Pollachi sexual assault and extortion case. The arrested were identified as K Arulanantham, 34, of Vadugapalayam in Pollachi, T Heron Paul, 29, of Achipatti in Pollachi and P Babu, 27, of Vadugapalayam.

Arulanantham, Pollachi town secretary of AIADMK students’ wing, was expelled from the party following the arrest. The party has instructed members not to have any links with him.

The arrests were made after a magistrate court recorded the statements of three survivors a few weeks ago. “The women said that the arrested men, along with N Sabarirajan abducted them in a car in June 2018, sexually assaulted them and threatened to leak the footage,” a source said.

The accused were booked under sections of 354 A (sexual harassment), 354 B (assault or use of criminal force against woman with intent to disrobe), and 39 4 (robbery) of the IPC; Section 66 E of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998. They were produced before the mahila court in Coimbatore. Judge R Nandhini Devi remanded them in judicial custody till January

20.

In February 2019, a 19-year-old woman from Pollachi had registered a complaint with the district police alleging that a gang sexually assaulted her in a car, shot a video of the incident and used it to demand money from her. After a case was registered, a few more videos filmed by the accused surfaced. The accused allegedly befriended women using fake accounts on social media, sexually abused them, filmed it and used the videos to threaten them.

A month later, the case was transferred to CBI and five people - K Thirunavukkarasu, 27, N Sabarirajan, 25, M Sathish, 29, T Vasanthakumar, 25 and R Manivannan, 29 – were arrested. They are lodged in the Salem Central Prison. Members of All India Democratic Women's Association and the women’s wing of DMK staged a protest in front of the court demanding justice for the survivors.

K Arulanantham, 34, of Vadugapalayam, Pollachi town secretary of AIADMK students’ wing, was expelled from the party following the arrest. The party has instructed members not to have any links with him