Veeramani POCSO case: The Chennai Police formed a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprised of all women officers, in the case of appalling abuse of children over several years allegedly by granite baron R Veeramani. The SIT will carry out comprehensively investigation into the child abuse and other related aspects.

PC Thenmozhi, Additional Commissioner of Police, Central Crime Branch (CCB), Chennai City Police, will lead the SIT. Joint Commissioner of Police (West Zone) N Disha Mittal, Superintendent of Police Mutharasi, and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Women and Child (CWC) Unit, Geetanjali were among the other members.

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Key Accused Arrested On August 29

Police arrested Veeramani in connection with the case on August 29, along with his associates Shanthi and Mahendra Simhan. Later, Ganesan, a former employee of Veeramani, was also arrested on September 22. Police said they recovered a video related to the case from his mobile phone.

Govt Acts Against Two Top IPS Officers

Earlier on Thursday, more shocking details emerged in the case. The high-profile case also triggered allegations and counter-allegations in the political circle. Hours after Tamil Nadu Congress Committee SC Department president MP Ranjan Kumar alleged police inaction despite his complaint in November 2024 itself, the government eased two top IPS officers--one of them the then city police chief- out of their posts and placed them on "compulsory wait."

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IPS officers A Arun and N Kannan served as Commissioner and Additional Commissioner, respectively, in Chennai city during the DMK regime, when a complaint was reportedly lodged nearly two years ago alleging sexual abuse of minor girls by Veeramani. For about two years, Kumar said he did not disclose anything about his complaint because the police requested it, as they feared disclosure might obstruct evidence gathering.

In what appeared to be a tangled web of allegations, Ranjan quoted Veeramani's alleged accomplice Shanti as having claimed that her advocate was intimidated by Tamilaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam president John Pandian over a "payment issue." However, Pandian rejected the allegation as false and baseless and alleged that it was Ranjan and Shanti who had approached him to "extort Rs 20 crore from Veeramani," which he refused.

(With PTI inputs)