Chennai: Police arrested the three men accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year old postgraduate student in Coimbatore, on Monday night, a day after the crime. Coimbatore City Police Commissioner Saravana Sundar on Tuesday said that they had to shoot the perpetrators in the leg when they tried to escape. The accused who are from Sivaganga district have been admitted to the government hospital in Coimbatore. Chief minister M K Stalin who did not respond on November 3 to charges by opposition parties that law and order is deteriorating in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday said that he has instructed the police to file a chargesheet in a month and ensure swift justice to the survivor.
The trio were intoxicated and stole a two-wheeler when they drove past a parked white Swift car past 10pm on Sunday night in a dimly lit place behind the Coimbatore airport. The accused smashed the windshield of the car with a stone and attacked the survivor’s friend with a sickle. “The accused had abducted the survivor by making her walk to a secluded location,” the commissioner said. They sexually assaulted her a kilometer away from the airport. The police rescued her early Monday around 4.30am after her injured friend regained consciousness and dialed 100- the Tamil Nadu police control room.
The accused were identified as T Kaleeswaran (20), Satish T Karuppasamy (29), who are brothers hailing from Sivaganga district and their relative M Guna (24) from Madurai district. They have a previous criminal record such as theft and one of them has a murder charge across various police stations in Coimbatore and all of them were out on bail, the commissioner said. “The incident took place around 10:40 pm on Sunday,” the officer said. “At 11.20 pm, the survivor’s friend called the police.”
As news of the crime heated up politically, Coimbatore’s entire police force was pressed into action. The police formed seven special teams combing three locations and CCTV footage revealed the two-wheeler that helped them track the accused who were hiding in the Vellakinaru area near Thudiyalur in Coimbatore. “There were several matches for us to identify the three accused. Like, the footage of the two wheeler matched with the three spotted in the footage from the airport area,” the commissioner said. Police said that the accused tried to attack them with machetes and a constable’s wrist was injured. So the police fired at the trio injuring their legs.
{{/usCountry}}As news of the crime heated up politically, Coimbatore’s entire police force was pressed into action. The police formed seven special teams combing three locations and CCTV footage revealed the two-wheeler that helped them track the accused who were hiding in the Vellakinaru area near Thudiyalur in Coimbatore. “There were several matches for us to identify the three accused. Like, the footage of the two wheeler matched with the three spotted in the footage from the airport area,” the commissioner said. Police said that the accused tried to attack them with machetes and a constable’s wrist was injured. So the police fired at the trio injuring their legs.
{{/usCountry}}The survivor and her friend are undergoing hospital treatment and are in a stable condition and also being given counselling. When asked about the comments on social media questioning the survivor and her friend for hanging out in a locality known touted to be unsafe, the commissioner requested “people to desist from passing judgements. It is their freedom.” He also refused to respond to questions on their relationship saying that it was not related to the crime.
The sexual crime triggered sharp reactions from the Opposition including the AIADMK and BJP on November 3. Following the arrest of the accused, Stalin on Tuesday described the sexual violence in human and barbaric. “The culprits have been identified and arrested swiftly. I have directed the police to file the charge sheet within a month and ensure that they receive the maximum punishment at the earliest,” Stalin said on X.