CHENNAI: A court in Tiruvallur has sentenced five men to life imprisonment for the kidnap and gangrape of a 40-year-old woman in an abandoned area in Chennai Bypass Road (Tambaram-Maduravoyal expressway) in August 2022.
Avadi city police had arrested six persons, including two 19-year-olds and two 21-year-olds, in connection with the gang rape and robbery. All six were found guilty. While five of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, another accused was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
The survivor ran a tea stall near Porur. Around 11 pm, on August 6, 2022, she shut her shop and was returning home with a cab driver, a family friend. A man waylaid and intercepted the vehicle at Telliyar Agaram, 2 kms off the expressway. When the car stopped, five others joined him; they attacked the cab driver and the woman, forced their way into the vehicle, the police said.
The gang also threatened the woman that they would murder her if she let out an alarm. After driving the car for a distance, the gang threw the driver out of the vehicle and took the woman to a secluded spot.
The men first took away eight sovereigns of gold jewellery she was wearing and then took turns and raped her, police said.
SRMC police initially arrested one person, S Santosh (21) and then arrested five others - V Surya (21), A Dinesh (28), C Karuppiah (27), S Ganesh (19) and S Subash (19).
Subsequently, the investigation was completed, and the final report was filed before the Principal District Judge Court, Tiruvallur District, and the trial was conducted.
On Saturday, after the end of the trial, the accused were found guilty as the prosecution proved the charges against them. The top brass of Avadi City Police appreciated the SRMC police team for securing a conviction.