Among those arrested, 34-year-old K Arulanandham is an AIADMK students wing worker. T Herine Paul (29) and P Babu (27) hailing from different areas in Pollachi were arrested with Arulanandham. 

They were produced in Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital for a medical examination and were taken for remand in Coimbatore. 

Following the arrest, AIADMK removed Arulanandham from the party.

All three accused were remanded to judicial custody till January 20.

The CBI — which took up the investigation in the case in March 2019 — was recently granted permission by the Mahila Court in Coimbatore to examine the voice samples of the five accused persons, who were already arrested.

After a college girl brought to light she was sexually abused, the Pollachi rural police arrested Thirunavukkarasu, 27, Sabarirajan, 25, Sathish, 25, Vasantha Kumar, 25 and Manivannan, 27. They took her in a car and sexually exploited her.

Investigations later revealed that it was not an isolated incident as the five accused had sexually exploited several young women, videographed the act and extorted money from them. Following a national outrage demanding a detailed probe, the CBI took over the investigations from CB-CID.