CHENNAI: At least 22 men including security guards, elevator operators and plumbers at an apartment complex in Purasawalkam here sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl with a hearing disorder for more than seven months, police said on Monday.Investigators have arrested 18 of the suspects and are searching for others involved in the horrific crime in the heart of the city.The perpetrators sedated the Class VII girl with injections, drug-laced soft drinks and a powder that they made her sniff before sexually assaulting her and videographed themselves in the act, an investigating officer said. They blackmailed the child into silence for a prolonged period with the threat of releasing the videos and by menacing her with violence, he said.“This continued till the girl on Saturday told her older sister, a college student on a visit home from Delhi, about the trauma she was going through,” officer said. “The sister informed their parents, who filed a complaint with the Ayanavaram all women police.”The girl told police that Ravi Kumar, 66, an elevator operator in the largely unoccupied 300-flat complex, first sexually assaulted her. Three days later he brought two men reeking of alcohol from outside the complex who videotaped themselves raping her. Other men soon joined in, sexually assaulting the child repeatedly.“Ravi would lead away the child as soon as she alighted from her school van to the basement, public washrooms, the terrace and gym, where he and his accomplices raped her,” the officer said. “Many of the flats were vacant so the suspects had little hindrance while committing the crime.”The suspects arrested in the crime were all employees FOCUS, a security firm, and UK Facility Services, Chennai.“The girl’s father was away at work through most of the day,” the officer said. “Her mother, a homemaker, did not think anything was amiss when the girl came home late from school. She assumed that her daughter was playing with friends in the complex.”The girl’s parents took her to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital for treatment on Sunday. After examining and speaking to the girl, doctors at the hospital found that several men had raped her.Police on Monday had her statement recorded in a mahila court after arresting 18 suspects and charging them under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.“We have sent seized syringes and an empty soft drink bottle to the forensics laboratory to determine what drugs they used,” the officer said, adding that investigators had also sent seized condoms for tests.Read this story in TamilThey identified the suspects as security guards Murugesh, 54, Palani, 40, Abishek, 23, Sugumaran, 60, Prakash, 58, and Umapathy, 42; elevator operators Ravi Kumar, Paramasivam, 60, Dheenadayalan, 50, Srinivasan, 45, and Babu, 36; plumbers Jaiganesh, 23, Raja, 32, Surya, 23, Suresh, 32; an electrician Jayaraman, 26; a housekeeping employee, Rajasekar, 40; and a gardener, Gunasekar, 55.Read this story in Bengali