CHENNAI: On October 7, 2025, the Anti-Vice Squad (AVS) of the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Greater Chennai Police, registered a case against Gem Granites chairman R Veeramani, after a child rights activist approached them with a pen drive containing a video purportedly showing Veeramani sexually assaulting a minor girl. A few months later on February 20, 2026, a closure report was filed before the Special Court for Pocso Cases.
Today, a year since the first FIR was registered, questions arise on the handling of the case which has gained national attention. Activists and officers point out concerns have emerged on the decades-old system that allowed the perpetrator to continue abusing minors, as one of the victims claimed she was abused as early as the late 1980s.
The police have identified the victim in the first FIR and registered four more new cases so far, including a case of suicide that happened in 2004 based on the mother’s complaint, and others based on complaints by mothers and the victims. A few more complaints have been received by the SIT probing the first case while senior police officers, including the then police commissioner, were transferred and placed in the waiting list.
As many as seven people, including Veeramani and his associates, were arrested on August 29. Four employees have also been arrested for aiding the heinous crime. Though the crime was happening for decades, much of the action was taken only in the last six weeks.
A senior police officer questioned why the case stayed with the AVS – which deals with immoral trafficking and prostitution cases – instead of being transferred to the Crime against Women and Children (CwC) wing of the state police, which handles cases involving women and children.
A senior GCP officer, when asked why the case was not transferred, told TNIE, “It should have been transferred but we do not know why it was not done.”
A Devaneyan, founder of Thozhamai, said Pocso cases required specialised handling. “Handling a Pocso case requires a child-friendly, child-centric approach that respects the child’s dignity.
The law mandates acting in the best interests of the child. But the Child Welfare Police Officer’s role is merely a part-time assignment. An officer might deal with criminal activities all day and then be expected to become a child-friendly officer in the evening. That transition is practically impossible,” he said.
“Fourteen years since the introduction of the Pocso Act, awareness on child sexual abuse is being spread only now,” said Henri Tiphagne, executive director of People’s Watch and a human rights advocate.
Another activist, who wished anonymity told TNIE that the lack of effective implementation of Standard Operating Procedures was also a concern in the case. “Tamil Nadu police do have proper SOPs, but they remain on paper and are not reflected in the action taken in cases like this.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Congress leader MP Ranjan Kumar, who initially lodged a police complaint regarding the case in 2024, was questioned by the SIT for the second time.
