Coimbatore gang-rape: Anatomy of a crime

The three persons convicted for gang-raping a college student in a deserted area near Coimbatore International Airport on the night of November 2, 2025 had come to the scene of crime after committing another grave offence.

The convicts, T. Karuppasamy alias Satheesh, 30, his brother T. Kaleeswaran alias Karthik, 21, and M. Guna alias Thavasi, 20, had an altercation with a herder, namely M. Devaraj, 55, at Serayampalayam within the jurisdiction of the Kovilpalayam police station around 7.45 p.m. on the same day.

They assaulted Devaraj, allegedly after he questioned them for consuming liquor in an open area. He was found dead at the spot on November 6.

“They were not sure whether Devaraj died on the spot. They fled the spot after the assault. They came to the ground near Brindhavan Nagar, on a stolen moped, to consume alcohol,” said a police officer.

The trio targeted the college student and her boyfriend, when they were sitting in his car on the ground around 10.50 p.m. and were about to leave.

Guna smashed the glass on the side of the driver’s seat and Karuppasamy struck the front windscreen with a machete. When Karuppasamy pressed the weapon on the youth’s neck, he tried to block with hands, injuring his palms. As the youth got out of the car, the trio assaulted him and took away his mobile phone.

As the youth collapsed in the impact, the trio pulled out the student from the car and took her to a deserted area on the northern side of the ground and sexually assaulted her.

“The accused reportedly saw flashing of torch lights from the campus of the Coimbatore Institute of Technology when the survivor shouted for help. They then took her to deserted area behind the Government Polytechnic College to the motor room of a sewage treatment plant and sexually assaulted her till 3.45 a.m. (November 3). They let her go after robbing her of her earrings,” said the officer.

According to the police, one of the accused gave his shirt to the survivor, along with a pair of pants stolen from the compound of the staff quarters. They forced her to scale a wall that separates the campus and Brindhavan Nagar, where she sought refuge in a neighbourhood around 4 a.m.

Surveillance camera visuals collected by the police from the Government Polytechnic College showed them exiting to Avinashi Road through the campus at 3.59 a.m.

The boyfriend, after regaining consciousness, alerted the police from the mobile phone of a motorist on Brindhavan Nagar – SIHS Colony Road at 11.22 a.m. Though around 100 policemen combed the vast ground and nearby railway track, they could not locate the accused and the survivor. They later found the survivor having sought refuge in a house at Brindhavan Nagar, after being alerted by people who helped her.

Investigators found that the trio reached Saravanampatty after the crime and boarded a bus to Sathyamangalam. One of them pledged one ear ring (other lost while escaping) to a known person and collected the money. They later returned to Saravanampatty and headed to Vellakinar, from where the police arrested them after shooting them in their legs. The police had traced them to Vellakinar after examining visuals from about 300 surveillance cameras. The moped, which they had stolen from Kovilpalayam station limits on October 30 and left on the ground, also helped the police in the investigation.