Months after the Pollachi sexual assault case came to the fore in February, the CBI has filed the chargesheet against the five accused, calling it a case of organised crime. The chargesheet has been filed a month after the CBI took over the case. The accused are in judicial remand.
New Delhi: The CBI has filed the first charge sheet in the Pollachi sexual assault case against five accused in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. CBI’s probe has deduced that the case was an organised crime.
The accused persons are Sabarirajan aka Risvanth, K Thirunavukkarasu, M Sathish, T Vasanth Kumar and R Manni aka Manivannan.
The charge sheet includes sections 354(A)(sexual harassment), 354(B)(assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) under the IPC.
A case under the Information Technology Act, 2000 for punishment for violation of privacy and section 4(Penalty for harassment of woman) of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women’s harassment Act have also been filed.
Apart from these sections, charges of rape under IPC section 376 and section 394(offence of robbery) have also been listed.
The CBI had registered two cases in April after a notification was issued from the state and the Centre. The charge sheet has been filed in less than a month, since taking over the probe.
The agency has alleged that they were acting as an "organised criminal gang" and were in regular touch with each other.
The agency said Sabarirajan worked as a site supervisor at a private construction company, while Thirunavukkarasau and Vasanth were in money-lending business. Mani and Sathish were businessmen and are in their twenties. All the five accused are in judicial custody in Coimbatore jail, he said.
Also read: Pollachi sexual assault case: Fifth accused surrenders before CBI; sent to judicial custody
A gang of men had on February 12 allegedly tried to strip the woman inside a car near Pollachi, over 500 km from Chennai. They had shot a video of the act and blackmailed her using the visuals.
Not giving into the blackmail, the victim, who managed to free herself, lodged a complaint with police on February 24.
The case assumed political overtones since a local functionary of the ruling AIADMK allegedly attacked the victim's brother.
The attack by the functionary, who was later expelled from the AIADMK, coupled with reports in a section of media opened a can of worms, leading the police to believe that over 50 women may have been victims of sexual assault by a close network of men.
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