granite
Chennai: Granite baron, Veeramani, 84, was on Saturday arrested on charges of sexually abusing a minor girl at an acquaintance’s house in Teynampet. It submitted that the incident, as per the pen drive, had occurred in 2019 and that there was DCR recording of the data. The two facilitators — Mahendra Simha, 64, and his wife, Shanthi, 60– also said no such incident took place at their residence. However, rejecting the closure request on Aug 19, the special judge said: “ Final report not accepted.
Both the couple and Veeramani said the man in the video was not him and that they had never seen such a girl. They also said that Veeramani had rented a house in Teynampet and entrusted its management to his business associates Mahendra Simha and his wife Shanthi. A minor girl worked at the house and Veeramani frequently visited the premises, according to police.
A couple, who were his business associates, were also arrested for facilitating the sexual abuse. The arrests were made by the anti-vice squad (AVS) of the central crime branch (CCB) police. However, after inquiry, the squad sought closure of the case and filed a ‘further action dropped’ report to the special court for Pocso Act cases in Chennai. Also, the identity as well as the whereabouts of the girl, presumed to be a minor, was not known. Citing similar eyewitness statements, the anti-vice squad filed the closure report. Chennai city commissioner of police A Amalraj instructed his subordinates to investigate whether the minor had been subjected to sexual abuse by more than one person.
On Saturday, police issued a statement saying they had later established the identity of the man in the video as industrialist Veeramani, founder of Gems Granites. The Anti-Vice Squad arrested Veeramani, Mahendra Simha and Shanthi on Saturday and got them remanded in judicial custody.
Further investigation shall be completed or progress shall be reported in four weeks.” Further investigation is ordered.