The Greater Chennai Police have recovered 100 sovereigns of gold and a luxury car from Gnanasekharan, a biryani vendor, who was arrested in connection with the sexual assault of an engineering student at Anna University on December 23, 2024.

Investigations revealed that Gnanasekharan was also involved in multiple thefts.

According to police sources, he confessed to robbing seven houses in the Pallikaranai area in Chennai.

The stolen money was allegedly used to buy a luxury car, while the stolen jewellery was sold to fund his biryani business and finance a lavish lifestyle.

Following the confession, police traced and seized 100 sovereigns of gold from two dealers in Chennai.

Gnanasekharan is currently in police custody for further interrogation after the Alandur court granted a three-day remand in connection with the theft cases.

He was initially arrested on December 25, 2024, for the sexual assault case at Anna University, where he allegedly attacked a female student and assaulted her in a secluded area of the campus.

Following his arrest, he was detained under the Goondas Act based on the recommendation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) handling the case.

The case has sparked a political controversy, with Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai staging a protest outside his residence in Coimbatore.

He flogged himself six times to symbolise what he described as the deteriorating law and order situation.

Mr Annamalai also announced a 48-day fast and a pilgrimage to the six holy abodes of Lord Murugan as part of his protest. He criticised the Tamil Nadu Police for allegedly leaking the FIR in the case, which unintentionally exposed the identity of the 19-year-old victim.

He further accused the police of not including Gnanasekharan in the state’s “rowdy list” despite his involvement in multiple criminal cases.

Mr Annamalai claimed this was due to the accused’s “links” with the ruling DMK.

He presented evidence suggesting that Gnanasekharan was a DMK functionary and alleged that the ruling party was attempting to divert attention from the state’s law and order issues by pushing a narrative of a North-South divide.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)