A Tamil Nadu court on Tuesday in the 2019 Pollachi sexual assault case, The News Minute reported.

The Mahila Special Court in Coimbatore convicted the men for gang rape and rape. The men are N Sabarirajan alias Rishwanth, K Thirunavukkarasu, Sathish, T Vasanthakumar, R Mani alias Manivannan, P Babu, T Haronimus Paul, K Arulanantham and M Arunkumar.

The sentencing will take place later on Tuesday.

The case pertains to a gang of nine men who befriended several women on social media and then sexually assaulted them, since 2013. In some cases, the men recorded explicit videos of the women and used those for blackmail.

The allegations of the sexual assault and blackmail racket came to light in February 2019 when a 19-year-old college student in Pollachi town in Coimbatore district filed a complaint against the men for sexually harassing her.

The case was probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which identified 12 women from the videos. Eight of the women deposed in court, according to The News Minute.

The Tamil Nadu Police had to the CBI following outrage against the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam state government at the time about the the case.

The first chargesheet was filed in May 2019 and a supplementary chargesheet was filed in August 2021. Forty-eight...