The crime took place on the night of December 23, 2024, when a female student of Anna University was with her boyfriend on campus. Gnanasekaran trespassed into the university, sexually assaulted her, and held her against her will for 40 minutes. He filmed the couple and later used the footage to blackmail her.

The survivor reported the incident to a professor from the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) committee, and a police complaint was filed immediately. Gnanasekaran was soon arrested by the police on December 25.

Gnanasekaran, a known history-sheeter from Kotturpuram in Chennai, already has seven cases pending against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Tamil Nadu government also invoked the stringent Goondas Act, enabling preventive detention without bail for up to a year.

Soon after his arrest, photographs of Gnanasekaran with ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionaries surfaced on social media, leading to political controversy. Though the DMK initially denied any affiliation, opposition parties circulated photographs showing Gnanasekaran purportedly holding a position within the party.

Subsequently, the Madras High Court ordered the formation of a special investigation team (SIT), who submitted a detailed chargesheet to the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Saidapet on February 25 this year. The case was subsequently transferred to the Mahila Court in Allikulam.

The case also stirred controversy after the Tamil Nadu police uploaded the First Information Report (FIR) related to the assault on their public website, revealing sensitive identification details of the survivor. Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun later attributed the leak to a technical glitch during the transition from the IPC to the BNS, stating that FIRs in sensitive cases are usually auto-locked in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS). A separate case was registered to investigate the source of the leak.