india

Updated: May 24, 2019 22:08 IST

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed a charge sheet in Tamil Nadu’s Pollachi sex scandal, terming it an “organized crime” by a gang led by one K Thirunavukkarasu that has been going on for two-three years.

The agency has, however, not been able to identify the exact number of victims who were raped, videographed and blackmailed by the gang. A CBI officer, requesting anonymity, said a lot of girls/women were not ready to come forward and lodge complaints for fear that their identities would be exposed.

The issue had snowballed into a political row in late February in Tamil Nadu with the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) panning mishandling of the case and alleging that some senior functionaries in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) had links with gang members.

The scandal revolves around a gang in Pollachi town, about 40 km south of Coimbatore, who allegedly befriended college students, housewives and other women, including a Chennai-based doctor, through Facebook, lured them to places of their choice and sexually assaulted and videographed them. Subsequently, more demands for sexual favours were allegedly foisted on them with the threat of uploading the videos online. The women were taken to farmhouses or other places, where they were thrashed if they resisted the gang members.

In the charge sheet filed in a special court in Coimbatore, the CBI has named five gang members: Thirunavukkarasu (28), Sabarirajan alias Riswanth (26), M Sathish (29), T Vasant Kumar (29) and Mani (25).

CBI spokesperson Nitin Wakankar said the chargesheet was filed in less than a month of the agency taking over investigations.

The agency said Sabarirajan worked as a site supervisor at a private construction company, while Thirunavukkarasau and Vasanth are in the money-lending business. Mani and Sathish are businessmen. They are in judicial custody in Coimbatore jail. Efforts are underway to identify other suspects, an official said. In the chargesheet, the CBI has said the five men acted as an “organised criminal gang” and kept in regular touch with each other.