COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court on Tuesday ordered the transfer of the Pollachi Sex Blackmail Racket case to the Principal District court for further investigation.
The court also ordered the extension of remand of the five prime suspects - Thirunavukkarasu, Sabarirajan, Sathish, Vasanthakumar and Manivannan - following completion of their judicial custody period.
According to sources, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted copies of its charge sheet that were previously submitted on May 24, 2019, before the Coimbatore Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court on Tuesday.
Upon completion of their judicial remand period the suspects were brought to the court from Salem central prison amid tight police security. The court ordered extension of their judicial remand by 15 days, up to February 11.
It must be noted that it is the first time that the suspects were produced at the court in the district, after they were transferred to the Salem central prison from Coimbatore prison on June 26, 2019 on security grounds.
While hearing the case, the court ordered transfer of the case to the Principal District Court for further investigation.
On February 24, 2019, a case was registered against Thirunavukkarasu, Sabarirajan, Sathish and Vasanthakumar for sexually harassing a 19-year-old college student at Makkinampatti in Pollachi. The next day, Pollachi police arrested three persons, except Thirunavukkarasu, who was nabbed on March 5 last year.
When the case was under CB-CID investigation, they arrested one Manivannan with respect to the case and then altered the case to include rape charges in April 2019.
Later, the case was taken over by the CBI and they re-registered the sexual harassment case and another assault case that was lodged by victim's brother. The CBI had recently submitted a closure report before the court against the assault case.