Anna University sexual assault suspect’s phone had clips of more women
Cyber sleuths retrieve deleted data from accused’s phone
Accused Gnanasekaran; SFI and AIDWA members protest outside Anna University (Photos: Daily Thanthi/ Manivasagan.N)
CHENNAI: The accused who sexually assaulted a college student on the Anna University campus and blackmailed her with a video of the incident had several video clips of women on his mobile phone, investigations revealed.
Before his arrest, the accused, Gnanasekaran (37), had deleted the videos, which have been retrieved by cyber lab officials.
The survivor in the case went against his assumptions that she could be shamed with the video of her performing sexual acts on him and filed a police complaint despite his threats he would send them to her father.
The assault took place on December 23, and the survivor filed a police complaint the next day. While Gnansekaran was summoned along with several other suspects on the same day, owing to his rap sheet, he was let off that night due to lack of conclusive evidence. He had used this window to delete the video clips on his mobile phone, and when he was eventually arrested by the city police on December 25, police retrieved his phone and sent it to the cyber lab.
Police sources said Gnanasekaran will be grilled about the videos once they secure his custody.
During his media address on Thursday, Commissioner A Arun had said they had yet to receive any formal complaint from other women.
The Commissioner had said that if evidence was found in his phone, the city police will be reaching out to survivors and urge them to file a complaint.
The Kotturpuram AWPS (all women police station) has booked the accused under eight sections including 63 (a), 64 (1) (rape), 75 (1) (sexual harassment), 127 (2) of BNS (wrongful confinement), 351 (3) (criminal intimidation) and sections 67 and 67 (A) of Information Technology Act.
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