Pollachi sexual assault case: All accused get life imprisonment till death

The Coimbatore Mahila Court sentenced all nine convicts in the Pollachi sexual assault case to life imprisonment till death and ordered ₹85 lakh compensation for victims

The Coimbatore Mahila Court on Tuesday sentenced all nine convicts in the Pollachi sexual assault and extortion case to life imprisonment till death, as reported by PTI. Judge R Nandhini Devi also ordered an overall compensation of ₹85 lakh for the affected women.

 

The accused were charged with a series of serious crimes, including criminal conspiracy, sexual harassment, rape, gang rape and extortion. The incidents took place between 2016 and 2018 and mostly targeted college-going girls.

 

Initially investigated by the local police, the case was transferred to the CB-CID and later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2019 for a thorough probe.

 

 

One of the convicted individuals is a former member of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam who was expelled following the scandal.

 

What is the Pollachi sexual assault case?

 

In 2019, a 19-year-old college girl filed a police complaint in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, saying she had been sexually abused by four men in a moving car. The incident happened 12 days before her complaint, near Pollachi. She was the first person to come forward and speak against this group.

 

According to her, these men had been trapping and sexually abusing many women since 2016. They would record videos of the assault and use them to threaten the victims for more sexual favours.

 

The Pollachi East police started an investigation and checked the phones and laptops of the accused. The devices had many videos showing the sexual assault of several women, including students and married women. Many of these crimes happened at a farmhouse in Chinnappapalayam, owned by one of the accused, K Thirunavukkarasu.

 

Seeing how serious the case was, the Tamil Nadu government handed the case over to the CB-CID on 12 March 2019. Later, due to growing public anger, the government transferred the case to the CBI. The CBI officially took over on 25 April 2019.

 

What did the CBI find?

 

The CBI named several men as accused in the case, including N Sabarirajan (also known as Rishwanth), K Thirunavukkarasu, M Sathish, T Vasanthakumar, R Mani (also known as Manivannan), P Babu, T Haronimus Paul, K Arulanantham and M Arunkumar.

 

They found that Sabarirajan was the main person who trapped girls and women, including the college girl who filed the complaint.

 

She was assaulted on 12 February 2019, in a car on Dharapuram Road. The men recorded the assault, stole her gold chain and left her alone in a deserted area. She told her family only after they began blackmailing her using the video.

 

(With inputs from PTI)