Chennai: The Madras High Court on Saturday admitted a plea by 10 women lawyers seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to set up a fact-finding team to probe the Pollachi sexual harassment case.

The first bench, headed by Chief Justice V K Tahilramani, issued a notice to the government and Director General of Police, asking them to respond by June 7, and also directed the registry to tag the same with a similar case pending before it. The incident pertains to a gang allegedly trying to strip a 19-year-old woman inside a car near Pollachi, a town near Coimbatore, recording the act and blackmailing her using the visuals. The victim, who managed to free herself, had lodged a complaint with the police. As reports emerged that the gang had sexually harassed many more young women and blackmailed them, the state government ordered a CB-CID probe and later transferred it to CBI.