In another video, Sathish can be seen in a sexual act, and he has left the door open for his friends to shoot the act.
In another video, Riswandh shoots a woman and continuously asks her whether she would meet him the next day. The police say such videos were used to blackmail for money or sexual favours.
If the sex was consensual, the men would threaten to upload the videos on the internet or circulate them through WhatsApp, unless the women gave them sexual favours, along with money and other valuables. In all the videos, it is clear that the door of the room was kept open so other members of the gang could take pictures and shoot videos.
Eventually, nine men were identified and added as accused in the case. N. Sabarirajan aka Rishwanth, K Thirunavukkarasu, M Sathish, T Vasanthakumar, R Mani aka Manivannan, P Babu, T Haronimus Paul, K Arulanantham, and M Arunkumar are the nine accused in the case. K Arulnantham was the AIADMK Pollachi youth wing Town secretary, and he was arrested in 2021 in the case. He was then expelled from the party.
How many victims?
The lawyer of the survivor told TNM that they have recovered three videos from the cell phones they seized from two of the men. While there are media reports and estimates that there are anywhere between 50 and 200 victims of this racket, there is no confirmation of any such number so far. However, at least six women are there in the videos that have leaked now, only Forensic department can recover the rest.
In an audio message that one of the accused Thirunavukkarasu released, he says that a false case has been foisted on him – but also suggests that ‘99 other women’ were willing participants.
Eventually, the CBI identified 12 women and convinced them to become a part of the case. However, only 8 deposed in court including Priya.
The case of assault of victim’s brother
Priya and her family filed a complaint and the police registered an FIR on February 24, 2019. On February 25, Subhash was assaulted by four men – allegedly friends of Thirunavukkarasu and Sabarirajan. Senthil, Babu, Mani and Vasanthkumar beat up Subhash for filing a complaint against Thirunavukkarasu, and allegedly threatened that if anything were to happen to these men, Subhash will not be alive.
An FIR was registered by the Pollachi police in this case, under section 341, 294(b), 323, 324, and 506(2) of the IPC.
Who are the four main accused
Sabarirajan alias Riswandh is a 25-year-old civil engineer in Pollachi. Thirunavukkarasu is a 26-year-old financier. Vasanthakumar works for Thirunavukkarasu to collect money from clients. Sathish is the owner of a readymade garments shop in Pollachi.
Revealing identity of victim, circulating videos
While the survivor and her family have maintained that the police is helping them in the case, Pollachi Superintendent of Police Pandiarajan revealed the survivor’s name in a press meet, against every law to protect the identity of the victim.
This was not all. A Government Order (GO) issued by the Tamil Nadu Home Department then, also revealed the name of the woman. Not just stopping at revealing the survivor’s identity, the GO dated March 13 went on to mention the name of the college she was studying in, and also identified her brother, who had given a complaint to the Pollachi East Police Station. This government order was forwarded on social media platforms, exposing the survivor to further harassment and trauma.
The name of the survivor in this case was revealed only to silence the other women and prevent them from coming out in the open and complaining,” DMK leader Kanimozhi had alleged then.
Meanwhile, several videos of victims did the rounds on WhatsApp, with no consideration for the victims’ consent or mental health. These videos were allegedly on the phones seized from the four accused – two of the phones were retrieved by the survivor’s brother while the other two were seized by the police.
