There are no further accused and no political connections, says Coimbatore SP
In a show of solidarity with the ruling party, the brother of the victim as well as the Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore claimed that there was no evidence to link the Pollachi sexual harassment case to any politicians in the ruling party.
With the Opposition hitting the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) hard in its home turf, the ruling party swung into damage control mode.
First, a video emerged of the brother of the victim, in which he stated that the local AIADMK MLA as well as other leaders of the ruling party had nothing to do with the crime against his sister.
Note: The face of the brother has been blurred so as to not identify the victim in any way
Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore, R Pandiarajan convened a press conference to announce that the police had sent a proposal to the District Collector to impose the draconian Goondas Act on the four accused. “A proposal has been sent to the District Collector to consider adding the Goondas Act against the four accused. The Collector will take a decision on this,” he said.
An additional Section 392 (robbery) of the IPC has been slapped on the four accused.
He also made some clarifications on the rumours doing the rounds of social media. “We got four mobiles from the accused. There were only four videos in those mobile phones. Reports that hundreds of videos have been found are wrong. Affected women can definitely complain to us. We will not reveal their identity,” he said.
Stating that the complainant had not alleged rape, Pandiarajan also said that earlier cases of suicide of young women would be pulled out and revisited to check whether this gang had any hand in those.
Surprisingly, the SP also made it a point to speak in support of the ruling party against whom allegations abound. “As far as this case is concerned, there are no other persons involved and no political parties are involved. Action will be taken against those who spread such false rumours,” he said.
On being asked as to whether he was making this statement under political pressure, he replied in the negative.
He stated that the only person who had any political connections in this case was one Nagaraj, who was arrested for threatening the brother of the victim. “Nagaraj was a friend of the four accused and there was an argument after the complaint was filed. Following this there were fisticuffs and we arrested four people for threatening the brother, including Nagaraj,” he said.
The AIADMK had issued a statement earlier today removing Nagaraj from his post as Amma Peravai Secretary of Ward number 34 in Pollachi.
The AIADMK filed complaints with the DGP and lodged complaints seeking action against those who were spreading rumours alleging Deputy Speaker Pollachi Jayaraman and Minister SP Velumani’s involvement in the Pollachi sexual harassment case.
“This is a ploy by the DMK to bring a bad name to the AIADMK,” said Jayaraman. “The AIADMK is not protecting the accused, we want to get them punished,” he said.
Rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader had accused the ruling party officials of trying to influence the police probe so that the accused are let free. Stalin said it also shows the lack of safety for women in Tamil Nadu for the past eight years under the AIADMK government.
Here is a video that shows the background to the horrific serial sexual harassment case in Pollachi that has allegedly continued over the past two years.