R Veeramani, chairperson of Gem Group, is under arrest in a case that surfaced only after a special court refused to let it end.
The case was registered in October 2025 after police received a pen drive containing a video that purportedly showed a minor girl being sexually assaulted. On August 19, the special POCSO court rejected the closure report and ordered further investigation. Police said they identified the survivor and established that she was a minor in 2019, when the alleged offence took place.
Because they could not identify or locate the victim has now taken a dramatic turn, with at least seven more minor girls testifying that granite baron R Veeramani, 84, exploited and sexually abused them over the years, cHENNAI: A case that police tried to close.
Investigators said they identified Veeramani as the man in the footage. A senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said police teams had identified the victims and recorded their statements before the special court trying POCSO cases. Meanwhile, Child Welfare Committee (CWC) member Sheela Jayanthi said the committee had yet to receive a report from the city police. “We are closely watching the developments in the case and discussing them with the District Child Protection officers,” she said.
But the girl could not be traced, and police sought to close the case. A special team led by assistant commissioner Rajalakshmi was formed. Citing his age and health, an Egmore magistrate directed police to question him within the court premises. The wider picture then emerged. Investigators were also examining whether other minor girls had been subjected to similar assault. Since the primary survivor is now a major, she added, there is no need for CWC intervention.
Her statement was recorded before a magistrate in Egmore on Wednesday. On Thursday, POCSO special court judge Padma Shanmugasundaram sent him to three-day police custody, and the Central Crime Branch’s Anti-Vice Squad took him for questioning.
Veeramani, chairperson of Gem Group and head of Gem Granites, is under arrest in a case that surfaced only after a special court refused to let it end.