Three more men including a student wing secretary of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have been arrested in connection with the sensational 2019 Pollachi sexual assault case, being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The accused were identified as K Arulanantham, 34, the AIADMK’s Pollachi town students’ wing secretary, Haron Paul, 29 and ‘Bike’ Balu, 27, a second-hand bike dealer, police said. “They are friends of those previously arrested in the case,” a senior official said. The trio were produced at the Mahila Court in Coimbatore district on Wednesday and were remanded to 14-day judicial custody, police added.
AIADMK, in a joint statement by chief minister and party coordinator Edapaddi Palaniswami and coordinator O Paneerselvam, were quick to expel Arulanandam. The party removed him from membership and asked the cadre not to be in contact with him.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhazgam (DMK) president M K Stalin said in a statement that bail should not be granted to the accused. “While there are still many ruling party figures to be trapped….I urge the CBI to expedite the investigation, arrest all those involved in the heinous sexual offense up to the top level of the AIADMK, and ensure safety of Tamil Nadu women,” Stalin added.
The case came to light in February 2019, when a 19-year-old woman filed a complaint alleging a group of men sexually assaulted her inside a car, filmed the act and threatened to leak the video.
The local police began investigations which revealed that a network of men had similarly harassed scores of women in Pollachi and blackmailed them. Several videos had leaked during this time. Police arrested five men– K Thirunavukarasu, Riswanth, M Satish, T Vasanthakumar and R Mani in 2019.
After allegations linking the names of the accused with ruling party functionaries emerged, Tamil Nadu government first transferred the case to the CB-CID and then to the CBI which filed a charge sheet in May 2019.
There was a huge public outrage across the state over the case and wide-ranging debates on the safety of women as reports suggested that the accused befriended the women on social media to meet them in person.
