Coimbatore

Of the 82 women, 28 persons were school and college girls. They committed suicide by either hanging or consuming poison, said a police officer. Though various reasons including stomach pain, performing poorly in studies and family issues were cited to be reasons behind their extreme step, activist groups have sought for a fresh investigation into these cases to know if they were victims of the gang of sexual assaulters.

“A separate wing should be formed to investigate the suicide cases of young women. As many cases of suicides were closed by citing usual reasons, the accused persons have escaped easily from the jaws of law. There are even chances for them to have ended their lives due to harassment by the four men. Only a proper investigation will bring out the truth,” said Buvana, an advocate based in Pollachi.

Though the culprits were involved in sexual abuse for the several years, it came to light only recently after a college student lodged a complaint with the police.

Sabarirajan (25), a civil engineer from MGR Nagar in Pollachi, had befriended a 19-year-old girl studying college through Facebook. He along with his friends – K Thirunavukkarasu (27), N Sathish (29) and T Vasanthakumar (22) – sexually abused her in a moving car and videographed the incident.

As the four accused persons frequently threatened her with the video to extort money, the victim lodged a complaint with the Pollachi East police on February 24. The police then arrested Sabarirajan, Sathish and Vasanth Kumar on February 25 and Thirunavukkarasu on March 5.

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