The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed a chargesheet against five accused in the Pollachi serial sexual assault and blackmail case, PTI reported. The investigating agency has booked all five for sexual assault and rape.
The agency’s spokesperson said a charge sheet has been filed against Sabarirajan alias Riswanth, K Thirunavukkarasau, M Sathish, T Vasanth Kumar and T Vasanth Kumar in a special court in Coimbatore. The agency claimed that they were part of an organised criminal gang. They are currently in judicial custody in the Coimbatore jail.
The case relates to allegations that a gang of men have been befriending hundreds of women on social media and then sexually molesting them since 2013. In some cases, the men shot explicit videos of the women and used those to blackmail their victims, the police said.
The allegations of the sexual harassment and blackmail racket came to light on February 25, when a 19-year-old college student in Pollachi filed a complaint against them for sexually harassing her. On February 24, the brother of the college student who filed the case got into a scuffle with the four men. When the police intervened, the victim’s brother explained that the accused had embarrassing pictures and videos of his sister.
The agency had taken over the investigation on April 28, when it filed two first information reports in the case. The first FIR was based on the complaint of the college girl and the second FIR was based on her brother’s complaint.
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