Weeks after a case of sexual assault and extortion of a college student in Tamil Nadu’s Pollachi was transferred for investigation to the CBI, the agency has taken up the probe. The agency said on Sunday that it had registered two cases and begun investigation. The first FIR is based on the sexual harassment and snatching of a gold chain reported in Coimbatore district on February 12. The second FIR is related to an assault on the survivor’s brother on February 26 towards near the town.
The issue came to light in February when the survivor complained to Tamil Nadu Police that four men— Thirunavukarasu, Sabarirajan(alias Riswandh), Satheesh and Vasanthakumar— forcibly removed her clothes in a car and videographed the act, the CBI FIR said. As per the FIR, the survivor alleged that they also snatched her gold chain and forced her to make physical relation with them, and threatened to upload the video on the internet. The second FIR is based on the statement of the survivor’s brother who had complained to that two days after his sister had lodged a complaint, four men— Senthil, Babu, Mani and Vasanthakumar— assaulted him when he was travelling on a two-wheeler near his house in Pollachi.
The agency registered the FIRs on Friday under various charges, including sexual harassment, assault or use of criminal force on woman, sections related to the IT Act and criminal intimidation. The CBI named eight persons identified as Sabarirajan, Thirunavukarasu, Satheesh, Vasanthakumar, Senthil, Babu, Mani and Vasanthakumar in the FIRs.
Earlier, the state police too had registered two separate cases— one on February 24 and other on February 26. Recently, the the Crime Branch CID investigating the case altered the original FIR to include a charge of rape. Section 376 (Punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code was added following the confessiong of R Manivannan, the fifth accused in the case.
In March, soon after the issue witnessed protests across the state, the Tamil Nadu government had recommended the transfer of the case to the central probing agency and received the go-ahead from Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit. The Director General of Police had stated in a GO that the recommendation was on account of the case being extremely serious, warranting technical analysis regarding the internet and Facebook usage.
(With IANS input)