On February 24, a 19-year-old woman from Pollachi gathered the strength to complain to the police about four men who allegedly sexually assaulted, videographed and blackmailed her. This single move in the quest for justice, soon exposed a shocking series of crimes against women committed brazenly by the same group, under the belief that survivors will remain silent out of fear of social ostracism. The alleged perpetrators - Sabarirajan, Thirunavukkarasu, Sathish and Vasanthkumar were soon arrested and the case was handed over to the state’s CB-CID.
And now, over a month since the interrogations began, CB-CID sources tell TNM that the accused have allegedly admitted to videographing at least 10 women in a similar fashion.
"This number is based on the confessions from the accused. We are yet to have any survivor come out," says a source in the CB-CID. When asked if this included the three women whose videos were circulated on social media, the investigating officer says, "No, they are different."
The officer had earlier told TNM that it was not sensitive to approach the women in the videos and that helplines are open for those who want to reach out.
In addition to this, investigations have revealed that multiple survivors have allegedly been raped. TNM has accessed the status report filed by the CB-CID at the Madras High Court on Wednesday and it states that the arrest of the fifth accused in the case, R Mannivanan, led to the inclusion of rape charges in the existing FIR. He was taken into custody from March 29 to April 5 and his confession has been recorded.
"In view of the confession of the accused and other materials recovered from the accused, it appears that the accused conjointly committed rape of victims and further it was revealed by them that videos taken by them involving the victims were used by them to intimidate the victims with the fear of exposure and coerced them to part with valuable property and also abused them by physical exploitation. The offences u/s 370 (exploitation) and 376 IPC (rape) were invoked and necessary alteration report submitted to the Honourable CJM, Coimbatore," reads the report.
Initially an FIR was filed against the four accused under sections 354(A) (sexual harassment), 354 (B) (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) of the IPC and 66(E) (Punishment for violation of privacy) of Information Technology Act, 2000 and section 4 (Penalty for harassment of woman) of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women’s Harassment Act.
Based on Manivannan's confession, the police also recovered the Volkswagen Polo Car used in connection with the crimes, including the assault of the first survivor who gave the complaint. The houses of all the accused were also searched and documents, laptops, cellphones, SIM cards, memory cards etc were seized and sent to the Regional Forensic Laboratory in Coimbatore for analysis. The social media accounts of the accused have further been identified and their contents analysed in the presence of witnesses. The report says that screenshots of the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Thirunavukarasu has also been prepared.
"It is submitted that so far, 45 witnesses were examined and their 161(2) CrPc statements recorded," reads the report. "It is submitted that more oral witnesses and digital evidences are to be collected to unearth the truth."