The CBI has taken over the probe into the Chennai Pollachi sexual harassment. The case pertain to alleged sexual harassment of a woman at Pollachi in Coimbatore district by a gang of men, who shot a video of the incident and blackmailed her for money.

The CBI has registered two FIRs in the matter — one pertaining to sexual harassment of the woman and another related to assault on her brother — against different sets of the accused. Both the cases were registered by CBI on Friday.

The CBI had taken over the investigation into the case from the state police that had registered the cases at Pollachi police station in Coimbatore. The State’s CB-CID was earlier probing the cases.

The gang of the sexual predators is believed to have sexually harassed and blackmailed a large number of women in Tamil Nadu, which triggered an outrage in the state after which the government transferred the case to the CBI citing the need for specialised attention, dedicated investigation with technical expertise and the extremely serious nature of the crime as reason for probe by the Central agency.

A four-member gang of the sexual assaulters had on February 12  allegedly tried to strip the woman inside a car near Pollachi, over 500 km from Chennai, and shot a video of the act and blackmailed her using the visuals.

The victim, who managed to free herself, lodged a complaint with police on February 24, according to her complaint which part of the FIR.

The case assumed political overtones as a local functionary of the ruling AIADMK allegedly attacked the victim’s brother.

The attack by the political functionary, who was later expelled from the party by AIADMK, led to a state-wide outrage.

Following reports that gang assaulted several other women in a similar way led the Opposition DMK to charge the AIADMK for allegedly shielding the accused persons.

The four accused in the case — Sabarirajan, Sathish, Thirunavakkarasu and Vasanthkumar — are undergoing  judicial custody.

The accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and the Goondas Act.