A Tamil Nadu court on Tuesday sentenced nine men convicted in the 2019 Pollachi sexual assault case to life imprisonment, The Indian Express reported.

Judge R Nandhini Devi of the Mahila Special Court in Coimbatore found the men guilty of criminal conspiracy, sexual harassment, rape, gangrape and extortion.

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 News Minute reported.

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

The allegations of 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 handed over the investigation to the CBI following outrage against the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam state government at the time about the handling of the case.

The first chargesheet was filed in May 2019 and a supplementary chargesheet was filed in August 2021. Forty-eight witnesses were examined by the court.

On Tuesday, Public Prosecutor Surendra Mohan told reporters that no witness in the matter had turned hostile.

“The CBI scientifically proved the crime using digital evidence, including date and time stamps,” India Today quoted Mohan as saying. “Even erased materials were retrieved and forensic reports confirmed the videos were not manipulated.”