Three held in Coimbatore gang-rape case after police encounter

Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu police have arrested three men accused of sexually assaulting a postgraduate student near Coimbatore International Airport after a tense gunfire exchange early Tuesday morning. The shocking crime has sparked widespread outrage across the state.
According to police, the 21-year-old victim, a first-year postgraduate student from Madurai studying at a private arts college in Coimbatore, was attacked late Sunday night. She and her boyfriend had parked their car in a secluded area near Prithvivan Nagar, behind the airport, when three armed men approached around 11 pm.

The assailants allegedly smashed the car window and attacked the boyfriend with a sickle, leaving him unconscious, before dragging the woman into nearby bushes at knifepoint and raping her. When the man regained consciousness around 2 am, he called the emergency helpline for help.

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Police teams launched an immediate search and found the victim about a kilometre away in a traumatised condition. She was admitted to a private hospital, while her boyfriend received treatment at the Coimbatore Government Hospital.

A special task force, led by Peelamedu Police, reviewed CCTV footage from the surrounding areas and formed seven squads to trace the culprits. Acting on intelligence inputs, officers tracked down the suspects who were identified as Guna, Satheesh Karuppasamy and Karthik Kaleeswaran, near Pattatharasi Amman Temple in Thudiyalur.

When the police closed in, the trio attacked with sickles, injuring a constable. In response, inspectors Arjun (Peelamedu) and Gnanasekaran (Saravanampatti) opened fire, wounding the suspects in their legs before taking them into custody.

The arrested men, all from Sivaganga district and working as daily wage labourers in Irukur, were taken to Coimbatore Government Hospital under tight security. Police said Karuppasamy and Kaleeswaran are brothers and that all three have previous criminal cases involving murder, robbery and assault.

Further investigation into the case is in progress.

(with inputs from agencies)