CHENNAI/ POLLACHI: The haunting video clip of a girl cornered to a wall pleading amid wails with a man to let her go surfaced on social media on Monday. “Why are you doing this to me? I came here trusting you,’’ the girl is heard saying. The man, an accused in the Pollachi gang-rape case, is unmoved and can be heard hitting her.

The disturbing video of a brutal sexual assault was one of four found in the mobile phones of four accused arrested by police for luring dozens of women on social media sites and sexually assaulting them. It was all under wraps until a 19-year-old college girl complained.

Social media rallied for the women against the men who videographed their crime and used the clips to blackmail and extort money from the victims. It sparked outrage in Pollachi, a town near Coimbatore, where the video is based.

As protests broke out across Tamil Nadu demanding action against the sexual predators, the AIADMK government accused by opposition of shielding the culprits, is moving to transfer the case to the CBI. An official said “The director general of police has begun the process of transferring the case to CBI.”

AIADMK had earlier sacked one of its local leaders in Pollachi, A Nagaraj, who had attacked the college girl’s brother for beating up the men who assaulted her. She had confided in her brother after she was assaulted.

