Coimbatore gang rape: Survivor unable to identify attackers from 60 mugshots; cops probe city’s migrant labour clusters

COIMBATORE: A 20-year-old postgraduate student was abducted and gang-raped by three men in Coimbatore on Sunday night after she and her boyfriend were attacked while sitting in a parked car near Brindhavan Nagar, behind the city airport.According to police, the incident took place around 10.30pm when three men arrived on a moped, smashed the car’s windshield, and assaulted the woman’s boyfriend with weapons. The men then threatened the woman and took her on their moped to a deserted area about a kilometre away, where they raped her multiple times.The injured man managed to call the Peelamedu police around 11pm, prompting an overnight search. The woman was found around 4am, and police recovered a stolen moped believed to have been used by the assailants.

She was admitted to a private hospital for treatment.On Monday night, police arrested three suspects — Sathish, Guna, and Karthik — after an encounter in which they sustained gunshot injuries. All three are from Madurai district and worked as daily wage labourers staying in a rented house in Coimbatore. They are undergoing treatment at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.However, investigators said the survivor could not identify the attackers when shown more than 60 photographs of known offenders.

“The CCTV cameras in the area failed to capture their faces due to glare,” a police source said.City police commissioner A Saravana Sundar said seven special teams have been formed to probe the case and verify the suspects’ involvement. “The survivor is in shock, while her friend is stable,” he said, adding that investigators are now focusing on migrant labour clusters in and around Coimbatore to trace possible leads.Meanwhile, AIADMK’s women’s wing has called for a protest over the incident, and BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan visited the crime scene on Monday evening along with party functionaries.(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)