Timeline of horror: How a late-night chat spiralled into a gang-rape in Coimbatore

What began as an innocent late-night conversation in a parked car escalated into a brutal abduction and gang-rape of a first-year college student by three armed assailants near Coimbatore International Airport, leaving the city in outrage and police scrambling for leads in a high-stakes manhunt. The harrowing sequence of events, pieced together from police investigations, witness statements, and the victim's preliminary account, unfolded over several tense hours late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.

Trapped in midnight horror

Around 11:00 pm: The 19-year-old victim, a first-year student at a private college on Avinashi Road, was in a parked car with her male friend in a secluded spot close to the airport. The couple, acquaintances from college, were simply chatting, unaware they were being shadowed by a predatory gang of three men who had spotted them earlier in the evening.

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11:15 pm: The assailants, armed with crude weapons like iron rods and sticks, struck without warning. They smashed the car's windows in a shower of glass, yanking the terrified male friend from the driver's seat and beating him savagely to subdue him. As he lay injured on the ground, the attackers turned on the woman, dragging her screaming from the vehicle and bundling her into their getaway car, believed to be a modified van based on tire tracks at the scene. Her male friend, dazed but alive, managed to flag down a passing motorist minutes later, who rushed him to a nearby clinic. His frantic call to police around 11.30 pm triggered the initial alert, describing the attackers as locals in their mid-20s, possibly under the influence, wearing dark hoodies to mask their faces.

Police race against time

11:30 pm to 3:00 am: Peelamedu police sprang into action, deploying sniffer dogs and patrol units across a 5-km radius around Pranthanam. A preliminary FIR was filed under IPC Sections 376 (rape), 366 (kidnapping), and 307 (attempt to murder), with seven special teams mobilised under City Police Commissioner Dr A Arun's direct oversight. CCTV footage from nearby residential complexes captured blurry images of the suspects’ vehicle fleeing toward a forested outskirts area, but the trail went cold amid the night's darkness. Public appeals via social media and local broadcasts yielded no immediate breakthroughs.

Post-midnight: In a remote, unlit patch of scrubland, likely a pre-scouted hideout just 2 km from the abduction site, the woman endured over three hours of unimaginable brutality. The gang, emboldened by the isolation, subjected her to repeated sexual assault, inflicting cuts, bruises, and other injuries with their weapons. She later told investigators they taunted her with threats of death if she resisted, stripping her of her belongings, including her phone, purse, and shoes, before fleeing around 3:30 am as distant sirens grew louder.

Escape from the nightmare

4:00 am: Seizing a momentary distraction when one assailant stepped away, the victim broke free, running barefoot through a thorny underbrush in a semi-nude state, her body marked by the ordeal. Stumbling onto a dimly lit service road, she flagged down an early-morning delivery truck whose driver, alerted by her cries, immediately dialled the police control room. Within minutes, a waiting ambulance and female officers from the all-women's patrol unit arrived, wrapping her in a blanket and whisking her to a private trauma centre for stabilisation.

Aftermath: At the hospital, medical examination confirmed the assault, with forensic teams now analysing DNA traces from the recovered car, parked haphazardly at the scene and containing the victim's scattered possessions. The special teams are pouring over 50+ hours of CCTV, quizzing night-shift workers, and tracing the van's partial registration. The male friend, treated for fractures and concussion, has provided sketches of the suspects, aiding a citywide alert.

Ruling DMK faces backlash

Most of the political parties, including AIADMK, BJP, Left parties, and TVK, have condemned the ruling DMK, Chief Minister MK Stalin, his son Udhayanidhi Stalin, and DMK MP Kanimozhi for remaining silent so far on the horrific gang-rape of a female student.

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Led by BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, members of the BJP's women's wing in Coimbatore staged a candlelight protest demanding justice and condemning the incident. The AIADMK's women's wing, under the leadership of former minister Valarmathi, has announced a protest rally on Tuesday morning. This shocking event has plunged the ruling DMK government into a severe crisis. Notably, the police have not issued any official press release or held a press conference regarding the matter.