Pollachi rape case: CBI files supplementary chargesheet

Coimbatore: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a supplementary chargesheet before the district mahila court in connection with Pollachi rape case by including names of K Arulanantham, T Heron Paul, P Babu and Arunkumar. The trial in the case is likely to begin next month.
The case came to light on February 24, 2019 with a 19-year-old college girl lodging a complaint against 26-year-old K Thirunavukkarasu, of Makkinampatti, 25-year-old N Sabarirajan alias Riswanth, of Jothi Nagar, 29-year-old N Sathish, of Suleeswaranpatti, and T Vasanthakumar, of Pakkothipalayam, for sexually harassing her.The next day, the Pollachi town police arrested three of them, while Thirunavukkarasu went into hiding. He was, however, nabbed on March 5, 2019. All the four were booked under Sections 354 (A) (punishment for sexual harassment) and 354 (B) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 66 (E) of the IT Act and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
The case was then transferred to the Crime-Branch CID police, who tried to nab R Manivannan, 30, of Aachipatti. However, he surrendered before the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) court on March 25, 2019. Manivannan, who was later taken into police custody, confessed that he had raped a few women along with the arrested four and they had taken videos of the act.
The Crime Branch-CID police altered it to a rape case on April 5, 2019. Meanwhile, the case was transferred to the CBI, which filed a chargesheet against the five before the CJM court on May 24, 2019. The chargesheet contained more than 1,000 pages. In 2020, the CBI arrested Arulanantham, Heron Paul and Babu in the case. Two weeks ago, Arunkumar, of Kittasurampalayam village, was also nabbed in connection with the case. Their names have been included in the supplementary chargesheet.