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Updated: Mar 12, 2019 22:11 IST

The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the sex scandal in Pollachi near Coimbatore which is threatening to snowball into a major controversy ahead of the general elections with the opposition DMK already using it to target the AIADMK.

Coimbatore police chief R Pandiyarajan’s clean chit to politicians earlier in the day raised the hackles of the DMK whose Rajya MP Kanimozhi staged a protest in Pollachi and alleged that a big network was behind the sex scandal..

According to government sources, a CBI probe was recommended considering the wider ramifications of the sex scandal. The move to transfer the probe to the CBI came hours after Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) T K Rajendran ordered the transfer of the investigation from the local police to the CB-CID.

Earlier Tuesday morning, actor-turned-politician and founder of the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party Kamal Haasan met the DGP and gave him a petition seeking stringent action against the accused.

Also read: AIADMK expels worker arrested in sexual assault case

So far eight people have been arrested in the case and Goondas Act invoked against the four prime accused, including the kingpin Thirunavukkarasu, an engineering graduate.

The scandal involves a Pollachi-based gang which befriended college girls through Facebook and lured them to nearby locations where they sexually abused and videographed with mobile phones. The girls were then frequently abused and extorted with the threat of uploading the videos on the internet.

The issue came to light when a survivor of sexual assault approached the police and lodged a complaint leading to the arrest of a quartet: Thirunavukkarasu (25), Sabarirajan (25), Sathish (28) and Vasantha Kumar (27). Later, the AIADMK functionary, A Nagaraj, was arrested on the charge of assaulting the sex abuse survivor’s brother. Subsequently, he was expelled from the party.

Though the local police initially maintained that several such videos of sexual assault of girls were there, Coimbatore’s superintendent of police (SP), R Pandiyarajan said that were only four such videos.

“Only four video clips are available. That there are several videos running into hundreds is a rumour. There is no involvement of wards or relatives of politicians,” he told the media in Coimbatore.

But the SP ruling out involvement of politicians or their wards has created a furore. The alleged kingpin of the racket, Thirunavukkarasu, had released two audio clips before his arrest claiming that he would soon expose the politicians involved in the scandal.

While the opposition has been accusing the government of attempting to sabotage the probe, Deputy Speaker of TN Assembly Pollachi N Jayaraman has charged the opposition with targeting him to gain political mileage ahead of the elections. Jayaraman who is from Pollachi is an AIADMK heavyweight.

“The DMK has been targeting me in view of the upcoming election. The accused have been given refuge by some DMK functionaries. Now, they are trying to drag my name into this,” he told the media.

Earlier in the day, DMK Rajya Sabha member, Kanimozhi was arrested along with party workers for staging a protest for which permission was denied in view of the election guidelines which have come into force.

Speaking to the media, Kanimozhi alleged that a big network was behind the sex scandal and the government should bust it and bring all the guilty to the book. “Media reports indicate that this has been going on for seven years. Young women and girls have been lured and sexually abused besides being extorted. This could not have continued without a very big network being engaged in this. Justice should be given out to the affected women,” she said. Tamil Nadu recommends CBI probe as DMK targets AIADMK over Pollachi sex scandal