CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Police commissioner A Arun said that cops took swift action in the case of the rape of an Anna University student on the premises of the institute by solving the case within 24 hours.
Addressing a press meet on Thursday evening, Arun said that the accused Gnanasekaran (37) is the only one involved in the crime and debunked theories of him colluding with another man in the rape of the student.
In response to reports about Gnanasekaran’s mobile phone containing videos of other women, Arun said the matter was under investigation. No other complaint of sexual assault or rape by Gnanasekaran has been received as yet, he added.
On December 23 evening, Gnanasekaran had allegedly filmed the survivor and her friend, assaulted the latter and held her in confinement for close to an hour, moving her to at least two different spots near two buildings. Threatening to release the video of the couple to her parents and university authorities and consequently get her expelled from the institution, he allegedly raped her and even recorded a video of the act. He also reportedly took pictures of her college identity card and threatened her to oblige his sexual demands in future. In between, he is believed to have spoken to another person from his mobile phone.
“During the time he had confined the survivor, his phone was on flight mode. He had lied to the survivor about calling someone,” Arun said. Cops have added sections of wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and the IT Act against the accused besides sections for rape, he added.
Denying reports that Gnanasekaran was involved in multiple such cases of sexual assault, Arun said that he is an accused in 20 cases since 2013, all of which are property crimes (thefts, house break-ins). “He has been convicted in six cases and others are under investigation. There is no case of rowdyism or abuse of any woman against him,” the commissioner said.
On concerns about security mechanisms in place at Anna University, he said that the institute has 70 CCTVs of which 56 are functioning. “CCTV cameras helped us nab the accused,” he said. The institute has also employed 140 security officers from Tamil Nadu Ex-Servicemen’s Corporation Ltd (TEXCO) who guarded the 11 gates in three shifts, Arun said.
On how the accused was allowed free entry inside the institute, Arun said that the university allows walking by outsiders. GCP was able to take swift action in this case because the survivor filed a complaint within a day enabling the arrest of the accused, Arun said.
