A spine-chilling sensation passes through the body, and your blood boils as you hear the voices of the minor girls. A sense of fear, vulnerability and unease can grip anyone hearing the girls’ accounts.
An alleged sexual abuse video, a minor whose identity remained unknown, a police investigation that reportedly moved towards closure and a court that refused to let the matter end there have opened up a can of worms, bringing to light allegations of years of continuous sexual abuse and a stark power imbalance between the alleged perpetrator and the minor girls. As allegations against GEM Granites chairman R. Veeramani widen, the investigation into the alleged sexual exploitation of minors raises questions about institutional accountability, the handling of digital evidence and the protection of vulnerable survivors.
What is the Veeramani case all about?
It all began on October 6, 2025, when a child rights activist handed over a pen drive to the police containing footage of an alleged assault on a minor girl. The footage reportedly carried a 2019 CCTV timestamp and allegedly involved granite baron Veeramani and his associate Shanthi. But for several political and legal reasons, the case did not move forward. The police had then said that they could not identify the victim in the video.
However, a few weeks ago, on the instructions of Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, the Greater Chennai Police widened its probe in the POCSO case against granite baron Veeramani to examine alleged financial transactions involving police officers, political functionaries and people in media houses who were allegedly linked to him. Sources say that Vijay summoned Chennai Police Commissioner A. Amalraj and directed him to take action against those found responsible for allegedly suppressing or causing a delay in the investigation.
Incidentally, the case has now moved beyond the closure report submitted by the police in February 2026. The report had cited difficulties in identifying the girl and a lack of sufficient corroborating evidence. But now, the investigation is moving forward following the intervention of the special POCSO court, which rejected the police report and directed further investigation.
Even as the investigation has restarted following the court’s intervention and Vijay’s instructions, there are several unanswered questions that continue to circulate on social media and among the public. Why did the police not make a concerted effort to identify the victim then? If the victim cannot be located, should the investigation intensify, or should the victim's absence become a reason to stop?
Apparently, a closure report doesn’t mean that the alleged perpetrator was innocent or that the case cannot be investigated further. The investigation reportedly took a new direction after police searched the residence of Veeramani's associate Mahendra Simhan in Teynampet. The police recovered the original footage of the alleged assault from a digital device, and it has already been sent for forensic examination.
“We are examining allegations that abuse may have occurred at multiple locations, including a residence, an office and a guesthouse on the outskirts of Chennai,” said a senior officer who is part of the investigation team. He said the network, the amount of money involved and the alleged scale of the abuse are mind-boggling, with the case allegedly involving several VVIPs across political parties in the state.
Incidentally, the police have now identified the victim and recorded her statement. The girls have also identified the back entrance, the bedroom of Veeramani’s bungalow and the secret room in his office. The police have stumbled upon crucial evidence and have also traced three more victims who were aged between 12 and 15 at the time of the alleged incidents.
The links between Veeramani and his assistant Shanthi, her husband, and their alleged roles in the sexual abuse have also surfaced during the investigation and are being probed. It is said that Shanthi had also claimed to be a victim of Veeramani’s sexual abuse. Police sources say that she claimed she had been raped by Veeramani when she was 13 and that she had a son with him. Sources say that she and her husband were directors of one of Veeramani’s companies and were on the payroll.
What next?
The arrests of Shanthi and Mahendra Simhan reportedly involve allegations of destruction of evidence and failure to report the crime. Those allegations will also now be tested in court. The investigators and activists working with the police department feel that only an in-depth investigation can establish the complete chain of events.
“Probing just the particular video may not help the investigation. We are trying to identify the entire network, all those who were involved, where the alleged incidents occurred and whether anyone helped conceal them,” police sources said.
The special POCSO court's rejection of the closure report has helped the case move forward. But that alone doesn’t mean justice for the victims. “An arrest is not a conviction. And a survivor’s statement doesn’t ensure that the perpetrators are punished. The real measure of this case is whether those responsible are held accountable and whether the girls are protected,” said one of the officers.
Of course, the alleged abuse, which for years existed only as a piece of footage and an unidentified face, has now taken on a much wider dimension. With the October 6 bypolls around the corner, political pressure surrounding the case has also built up. The investigation now has names, statements and new leads.
But the question is whether the system will follow those leads and bring justice to the girls, or whether the case will be forgotten after Chief Minister Vijay speaks about it during his campaign rallies at Madurantakam and Dharapuram.
