CHENNAI: A 37-year-old man with a criminal record allegedly raped a second-year engineering student of Chennai's Anna University on campus after filming her with a male friend and trying to blackmail them with the footage.
Suspect Gnanasekaran, who runs a roadside eatery near the campus, was arrested Wednesday, a day after the survivor called a police helpline to report the assault on her the previous evening.
Amid an uproar over the alleged rape and lack of safety on campus, cops issued a statement saying varsity authorities and senior cops would jointly review potential security loopholes and plug these.
Opposition members, including AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, BJP state chief K Annamalai, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss and AMMK chief TTV Dhinakaran, slammed the MK Stalin-led DMK govt for what they said was worsening security on educational campuses.
State higher education minister Govi Chezhian said action would be initiated to ensure crimes don't recur. He said those trying to politicise the issue should not forget 2019 Pollachi sexual assault cases when AIADMK was in office.
Investigators said the survivor was with her friend behind an old building in a desolate portion of the campus, close to Raj Bhavan and IIT Madras, when the crime occurred around 8pm on Dec 23.
The complaint states that Gnanasekaran came up to the couple and claimed to have recorded their alleged intimate moments. He intimidated the male friend, a third-year student of the institute, into leaving the place and allegedly proceeded to rape the woman.
Before fleeing, Gnanasekaran demanded to know the survivor's phone number and said she should meet him whenever he called her. He had been arrested in 2011 on the charge of sexually assaulting a woman on campus. It wasn't immediately known if the case went to trial. Police said there were still around 15 cases of theft and robbery against his name.
Investigators have collected samples from the scene of crime and are searching for Gnanasekaran's mobile phone as they suspect that he may have stored pictures of several women on the device.
University officials have set out to install more CCTV cameras covering the whole campus, and engage ex-servicemen for patrol, surveillance and security on the campus.
Later in the day, police issued a press release saying a joint security review will be conducted by police and university officials to ensure safety of students and faculty members.
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