Coimbatore
The CBI, which has been investigating the case, had filed the chargesheet against the five persons on May 24 last year. They were all lodged in Salem Central Prison.
The five persons, Thirunavukkarasu (27), Sabarirajan (25), Sathish (25), Vasantha Kumar (25) and Manivannan (27) were produced before Magistrate AS Ravi and copies of the voluminous chargesheet were handed over to them. They then read the chargesheet to know the charges levelled against them.
After a young college girl blew the lid off by filing a complaint on February 24 last year, the Pollachi rural police arrested the five persons. They took her in a car and sexually exploited her.
Police investigations later revealed that it was not an isolated incident as the five persons have sexually exploited several other girls, videographed the act and extorted money from them.
In connection with the case, the police had also arrested ‘Bar’ Nagaraj, an AIADMK functionary for assaulting the brother of the victim. He was expelled from the AIADMK for his involvement in the sex scandal.
Following a national outrage, demanding a detailed probe, the CBI took over the investigations from the CB-CID. The Magistrate posted the hearing to February 11 and also extended the judicial custody of the five persons. The case has been transferred to the District Sessions Court for further hearing.
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