Tamil Nadu law minister CTR Nirmal Kumar on Monday assured a thorough probe into the Pocso case against granite baron R Veeramani and two others, who are accused of sexually abusing multiple minors from impoverished backgrounds at a guest house in Teynampet systematically over multiple decades.
Officials said that chief minister C Joseph Vijay directed investigators to expedite the probe on Monday. They added that a separate police team would probe allegations of bribery worth crores to stage an alleged cover-up. Nirmal Kumar also hit out at the previous DMK regime. “A case has been registered and investigation is under way. There will not be any procedural lapse on this. Whatever needs to happen as per the investigations it will happen. Stalin must answer such a huge process lapse has taken place during the previous regime,” added the law minister. “Specifically speaking, the DMK’s stance is firm. Whoever commits a crime, especially regarding sexual violence, must be given appropriate punishment.” added Elango. He added that the minister was allegedly trying to protect the accused by spreading misinformation. “Why?
Because the threat of non-existent political pressure may force victims to step back without giving evidence. Addressing an event, he questioned why the investigation was halted despite the existence of video evidence showing the sexual assault by Veeramani.On October 6, 2025, a child rights activist submitted a pen drive to the Chennai Police’s Central Crime Branch’s Anti-Vice Squad which contained footage of the alleged assault. We believe that the minister’s statement is being issued precisely to help the accused,” he said, pointing out further 219 instances of sexual crimes were reported since the TVK government took over in May. CPI(M) state secretary P Shanmugham also questioned why no action was taken on the 2025 complaint.
Minister Aadhav Arjuna, speaking to reporters, asserted that the chief minister had ordered swift action on crimes against women and children and said, “there will be no answers from the DMK to the questions raised by the law minister.”He accused the previous DMK government of operating a “compromised police force that applied different laws” to protect favoured industrialists, party members, and the then “ruling family. Speaking to reporters, DMK law wing secretary N R Elango firmly refuted the allegations of the ministers and said that under the DMK government, police had submitted to the court that the probe against Veeramani had been deferred till gathering sufficient evidence. “Probe was not dropped during the DMK regime,” Elango, a senior advocate added. If police officers had been bribed, and if the government had evidence against such officials, action may be taken against them, he said, adding that Nirmal Kumar must substantiate his allegations or face legal proceedings. “Which officials or police officers were forced by whom in the then- government of that day to not take action?,” he said.
