In a new development in the alleged child sexual abuse case involving granite baron R. Veeramani aka Gem Veeramani, MP Ranjan Kumar, President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee’s Scheduled Caste Department, has told media that he had informed Chennai Police about the alleged crime two years ago.
The allegation, which could put Chennai police in a tough spot if proven true, comes amid reports that the Central Crime Branch has searched five locations linked Veeramani, and his associates in connection with the case, seizing mobile phones and digital documents.
The raid is based on a complaint lodged in 2025 by a city-based NGO volunteer, but MP Ranjan Kumar alleges that he had approached the Chennai Police with a complaint against Veeramani as early as November 2022.
The Police are yet to respond to Ranjan’s claims, while the asserted timeline is that an unidentified individual had handed over a pendrive containing video evidence showing an elderly man engaged in a sexually explicit act with a minor girl at the residence of an associate, Shanthi only on October 6, 2025 and that the FIR was filed the next day.
Although the industrialist was arrested on August 29, the first case was filed against him on October 6, 2025, following a complaint by a child rights activist. But, the police who investigated the case filed a report in the special court recommending that further action should be dropped in the case. The police who examined a digital video recorder said they could not recover the original recording or any other relevant footage. They also said they were unable to identify the girl who was the victim and there were no grounds to proceed further. The special court rejected the report and the case was reopened in July 2026.
During the fresh investigation, the police searched Shanthi’s residence and recovered the original footage of the alleged sexual assault form an electronic device and mobile records. On August 29, the police declared that the person identified in the video as Veeramani and said several minor girls were brought to the house and sexually assaulted. The police also said they collected the photos of minor girls and charged Shanthi and Mahendran with assisting the crime.
Till now, seven more minor girls who were victims had been identified and the girls between the age of 12 and 16 at the time of crime had been lured with small amounts of money, sports shoes, chocolates and mobile phones.
On August 29, 2026, police arrested Veeramani (84) along with his accomplices, Shanthi and Mahendra Simhan, under provisions for sexual offenses against minors.
Subsequently, on September 22, 2026, another suspect, Ganesan, who had worked at Veeramani’s company for 23 years, was arrested and remanded to Puzhal Central prison for withholding the incriminating video without informing law enforcement.
The Central Crime Branch has also come to know that more minor victims were subjected to sexual harassment before 2003 or even earlier. A senior police official, who declined to disclose the number of additional victims, said that investigators suspect that the systemic sexual exploitation of young girls from impoverished backgrounds may span more than two decades.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
