Anna Univ sexual assault: BJP seeks special probe in cases against Gnanasekaran

CHENNAI: A BJP advocate has moved a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Madras High Court seeking to transfer all the criminal cases, other than the Anna University student sexual assault, filed against Gnanasekaran to an independent agency for the transparent probe.

The public interest litigation is filed by an advocate A Mohandoss alleging the accused Gnanasekaran is habitual sexual offender and nearly 20 criminal cases were registered against him, among which 15 criminal cases are still pending, he said. The petitioner also said that he has not only sexually assaulted the recent victim but also committed similar offences against other girl students.

As he was a member of the ruling DMK party and held the post of deputy organising secretary of Saidapet East DMK student wing, he is roaming freely, and the senior leaders of the party have restricted the police investigation, alleged the advocate. So, Mohandoss sought the court’s direction to transfer all the pending criminal cases against the accused to the CBI or special investigation team.

It may be noted that Mohandoss had already moved a PIL with two other petitioners seeking a CBI probe in the Anna University student sexual assault case.

After hearing the PIL, a division bench of the HC formed a SIT to investigate the matter, it also directed the State government to pay Rs 25 lakh to the student as an interim compensation.

On December 23, the accused, Gnanasekaran, is alleged to have videographed the girl and her boyfriend at an isolated place inside the university campus. He reportedly threatened the girl, saying he would release the video that would bring her shame. Later, he allegedly sexually assaulted her and captured that too on camera to blackmail her into meeting him whenever he called. However, the woman did not succumb to the threat and lodged a complaint, leading to his arrest.