The Mahila Court in Coimbatore on Thursday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) permission to examine voice samples of the five accused in the Pollachi sexual assault case.
The CBI’s move for the analysis is to ascertain whether the voices of men heard in some video clips of sexual assaults match with that of the accused.
The CBI had submitted an application before the court seeking permission for the analysis about a month ago. However, the accused were not produced before the court twice when the plea was heard, said court sources.
On Thursday, the five accused in the case, namely K. Thirunavukkarasu, N. Sabarirajan aka Rishwanth, N. Sathish T. Vasanthakumar and R. Manivannan, were brought to Coimbatore from Salem Central Prison and produced before the court for the hearing of the plea.
With the court allowing the voice analysis, the five accused will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory of Tamil Nadu Police in Chennai that is equipped with facilities to collect and examine voice samples.
The case pertains to alleged sexual assault by the accused on a 19-year-old girl near Pollachi on February 12, 2019. The investigation found that the accused also allegedly filmed the act and blackmailed the girl.
After a case was registered based on the girl's complaint, a few videos of sexual assaults were leaked and the five men were accused of having involvement in them. The CBI expects that a voice analysis will help the investigating team to ascertain whether the five accused were involved in them.
The CBI had filed a chargesheet against the five accused in the case in May 2019.
