Nearly 11 months after a case was registered over the alleged sexual assault of a minor girl, the Greater Chennai Police have arrested granite businessman R Veeramani and two associates. This comes months after investigators had sought to close the case before a special POCSO court.
Arrest Details
Veeramani, founder of GEM Granites, was recently arrested by the Central Crime Branch’s Anti-Vice Squad along with Shanthi and her husband, Mahendra Simhan, who police allege facilitated the offence. The three were produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody.
Background of the Case
The case came to light on October 6, 2025, when a man approached a police inspector and handed over a pen drive that he claimed had been given to him by an unidentified person at his workplace. The device contained a video purportedly showing an elderly man sexually assaulting a minor girl. Police registered a case the following day.
Investigators struggled to identify the girl or establish her whereabouts. During the inquiry, police were tipped off about Veeramani and the couple. Veeramani denied that he was the man seen in the footage or that such an incident had occurred at the property linked to the trio.
Closure Report Rejected
Police subsequently filed a “further action dropped” report before the special POCSO court, citing, among other things, the inability to identify the girl and digital data indicating that the video dated to 2019. However, on August 19, the special court rejected the closure report and ordered further investigation, directing police to complete the probe or report its progress within four weeks.
