The Coimbatore Rural Police will examine two smart phones seized from the leader of the four-member gang, which allegedly blackmailed and harassed a college student after forcibly shooting her video in a car, at a government laboratory in Chennai to retrieve the erased data.
The mobile phones were seized from K. Thirunavukkarasu (27) of Gandhi Nagar from Makkinampatti near Pollachi and the main accused in the case, when he was arrested on Tuesday. He was held around 11 a.m. while he was travelling from Pollachi to his home.
“Thirunavukkarasu had deleted all the data from the two smart phones recovered from him. Hence, we have decided to send them to the government laboratory in Egmore to retrieve the erased data,” said a police officer.
The police said Thirunavukkarasu, who was into money lending, was absconding while they managed to arrest three other members of the gang - N. Sabarirajan (25) from MGR Nagar, N. Sathish (29) from Suleeswaranpatti, T. Vasanthakumar from Pakkothipalayam, on February 25. The police had found more than 25 obscene videos and photos of over 50 girls and women - allegedly harassed and blackmailed by the gang - from the mobile phones of Sabarirajan, Sathish and Vasanthakumar. With Thirunavukkarasu acted as the leader of the gang, the police suspect that similar contents could have been in his mobile phones which he erased. The police suspect that the gang had allegedly blackmailed and cheated several women and college students by taking their videos in compromising positions.
The Pollachi East police had registered a case against the four accused under Sections 354(A), 354 (B) of the IPC read with 66(E) of IT Act and 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act based on a complaint filed by a 19-year-old girl, video of whom the gang forcibly took in a car belonging to Thirunavukkarasu at Unjavelampatti on February 12. The gang had allegedly blackmailed the girl for money and sexual favours thereafter. The police had also arrested ‘Bar’ Nagaraj (27), Senthil (33), Babu (26) and Vasanthakumar (20), all from Pollachi, for allegedly threatening and assaulting the girl’s brother and family members.
