- 37 minutes ago
An India Today investigation brings to light crucial developments in the POCSO case involving Gem Granite Chairman R. Veeramani in Tamil Nadu. The network accessed key videos and evidence showing multiple minor victims targeted in an alleged abuse nexus operating across decades. Following court intervention by a POCSO Special Court judge after police previously sought closure, four individuals—including Veeramani, his associates Mahendra Simhan, Shanti, and Ganesan—were arrested. Fresh revelations indicate that complaints were filed as early as 2024, raising questions over alleged police inaction and political shielding. Summons have now been issued to top police officials who handled the initial probe to ascertain whether intentional attempts were made to bury the matter. The Tamil Nadu administration has asserted zero tolerance, stating that high-profile individuals and officers aiding the accused will face strict legal scrutiny.
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00:00This is India Today, so south, the place where you get all the important updates and most important exclusives and
00:04such
00:04about the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra and Telangana.
00:07And this time, we are going to stay with Tamil Nadu, considering India Today has accessed very important videos
00:13and very important evidences that is pertaining to the Viramani case.
00:17In fact, earlier today, India Today also broke the story about what of the Congress, Netas, called as Ranjan,
00:22apparently coming forward and stating that though the police claim that actual investigation began only after an NGO
00:28gave evidence, you know, considering that it could be Viramani on 2025, October.
00:33Ranjan had approached the police, not just in October, but back in 2024, October itself,
00:37November itself, stating that he has seen a couple of videos where the man resembled Ranjan
00:42and he had approached the police. Ranjan also claims that, like, Viramani in that particular video
00:47looked like the person like that, so he approached the police and Ranjan also claims that he has given
00:51a written complaint, not just that, he also has screenshots of talking to the cops who actually
00:57investigated the case again in 2025 based on an NGO complaint. In fact, the police officer, Mahesh Kumar's name
01:03is also involved with this. He's been issued someone currently. Ranjan says that for the past three,
01:08almost for three months, he was actually behind the police to find out what exactly has happened,
01:12what action has been taken, you know, to investigate whether, investigate whether it was Viramani or Shanti.
01:18But Ranjan says it went nowhere because the police were only asking him if he had any information
01:23about the victims. That was the police job, not him. However, this part did not come out at all.
01:29The only thing that came out is that an NGO approaches police in October, they gave a video
01:34and as evidence, FAR files, and after five months of investigation, apparently, that police had sought
01:40closure of that particular case. The POXO special court judge, apparently, is the one who's a very
01:46important, who has played a very important part here, who said that you need to go ahead
01:50and investigate it again. I have to tell you, that's absolute shocker. And now, here is what
01:55Neta has had to say about this.
02:01This DMV Romani case, nobody should be made to escape. Everybody should be punished.
02:10Definitely, I charged the DMK government. They slowed the process. They delayed the process.
02:17They almost wanted to stop the process. This government has taken it. They should intensify
02:24the activity and he should be punished. And who are all the officers, who are all the politicians,
02:31help them, should also be punished.
02:33You just did the message and you then started to stop the process. You are all the people who
02:40are all the officers in place. So I did not do enough to stop the process of that and there
02:44are no special questions.
02:45So you have to check it out.
02:50But even if they got up to that, you go to the nonsense, then you can check it out and
02:50So you can check it out.
02:50So you know, what if your policekeeper was there?
02:51You know, where the police are so known and they are all the people that the police are
02:53referring to you.
02:54It was an investigation.
02:56So the police is up to the police is up to the police party.
02:58If you don't know, there is no evidence and you can loоны.
02:59So the police is up to the police.
02:59So even if you know, there is a police officer and you can check it out.
03:03As per the CM's advice, any high profile or any profile, whoever has done that, does
03:09a mistake, definitely they cannot escape from the action, definitely a fair action will
03:14be taken, but at any cost, like even high profile or any profile, or any high political
03:19profile, no one will get an excuse, and no one, this government will not compromise for
03:23anyone.
03:27Apoorva Jayachandran is live with us on this particular story.
03:29Apoorva, this is a very important story.
03:30India today has been in this particular case, knowing that minor children are involved,
03:34a heinous crime against children, that has been happening for decades, at least we know
03:38for the past 20 years, but it looks like the actual nexus and the unfortunate predetorship
03:42has almost like several decades early, but right now, we've accessed crucial information
03:47on this matter.
03:48Can you please tell us what was the complaint Ranjan Kumar had filed earlier, Apoorva?
03:52Well, in fact, this does not stop with just Ranjan Kumar, we are also getting evidence that
03:56there were a lot of others who had flagged this up the high command as well, and yet
04:00there has been deliberate and intentional, you know, silence that has been going on.
04:05And if we talk about this case in particular as well, you see Ranjan who's going ahead and
04:09saying he had approached, you know, in October of 2025, the top cops in Chennai.
04:14Not only that, he had also approached in 2024 in November regarding this particular, you know,
04:20several such videos that have come out.
04:22And he's also gone ahead and stated, you know, the man in these videos is said to be
04:26looking like the like of Veera Mani, and that there must be an investigation that should
04:30be taken up.
04:31But an important question that is, you know, that should be going ahead.
04:34And what we must be asking is that why there was silence?
04:37If the DMK, when they were in power, after they came to power in 2024, knew about this,
04:41why was it that there hasn't been any kind of action that has been taken, number one?
04:45Now that the TDK has come to power, and they say that, you know, there shouldn't be any
04:49kind of crimes against women and children, what will be the step of action that they will
04:53take?
04:54Yes, top cops have been called in, summons have been issued, wherein they have to go
04:57ahead and appear for this current investigation.
05:00But this is a rampant thing that has been going on.
05:03This kind of a disgusting scandal breaking out in Tamil Nadu has been going on for the last
05:07two decades.
05:08So there were AIADMK, there was DMK, both these Dravidian parties who were there and the
05:13it will be a shocker if we get to know that, you know, AIADMK and DMK have been sitting
05:19on this silent over all these two decades as well.
05:23Minor girls, you're talking about Pramod, who have been, you know, assaulted, who have
05:27been taken, you know, this is all just a very wrong impression that is coming out.
05:32And with the investigation that is continuing on, one question that the Congress is going
05:36ahead and asking is that why is it there hasn't been any kind of investigation until now?
05:41But another question that we need to be asking is that the Congress, which was in alliance
05:46with the DMK, now in alliance with the TVK, they are also, you know, a party which is a
05:50nationally recognized party.
05:51So if they had given, Ranjan says that claims that he has given proof to DMK, why stop there?
05:57Why hadn't he gone forward and taken this up way above in the command chain?
06:01What had stopped him and what were the reasons?
06:03All of these are the questions that need to come out now.
06:06And more importantly, perpetrators who were behind this, who had abitted and aided with
06:10Veeramani and several others who have gone ahead in question, including Shanti, who claimed
06:15that she herself is a victim in all of this.
06:17These questions need to be answered for.
06:19And people behind this, no matter how up the rank of the command chain, they need to be
06:23held accountable.
06:28Thank you for this update, sir.
06:29I request you to stay back.
06:30But let me tell you, give the small chronology.
06:32The important aspect is that like seeing those pictures itself is absolutely shocking as a
06:37brother, as a father, as a sister.
06:38It's like nobody can actually go ahead and see this kind of like images.
06:42But India today, like we said earlier, we are closely monitoring, considering the magnitude
06:46of this particular case.
06:48We've come to know through our sources, close to seven victims have been identified.
06:51How many more are there?
06:53How corrupt is this system that a man can go ahead, do this and escape, even after multiple
06:59complaints being filed against him?
07:00We itself know about two complaints.
07:02And now there is a money trail for 70 crore rupees that is also being apparently investigated.
07:08What happened to the police officials earlier?
07:10Why should a man who comes and gives a complaint go ahead and also find out details about the
07:15victim?
07:15How can a single man have those kind of influence or those kind of like necessary items?
07:20When an entire police department is there, you have the anti-vice squad and they are supposed
07:25to have all the kind of resources to do that.
07:28And the police actually said that this complaint and the kind of action was taken only after
07:32a complaint from 2025.
07:35But here's another man from Congress Party, Ranjan, who comes forward and says that he has
07:38given a complaint back in 2024 itself.
07:41There are screenshots of this particular person of talking to a police officer.
07:46That officer has also been issued summons as per our sources right now.
07:50And that officer, Ranjan says he met two important officers who apparently have also been issued
07:54summons by the current regime.
07:56And he says that he went behind them for three months stating that these videos are gory.
08:01These videos are absolutely disgusting.
08:02And it needs to be investigated.
08:04Ranjan has also highlighted that the person there looks like Veeramani.
08:08He has also said that you need to investigate.
08:10You need to question Veeramani and Shanti.
08:12That did not happen.
08:14And we are here right now at this point.
08:16The evidence based on a 2019 video, apparently it looks like there are more videos because
08:21this one, there's a small timestamp on the left which says 23.
08:26Is this video from 2023?
08:28Did Ranjan give a screenshot or a video of 2023?
08:31Why wasn't it taken seriously at that point?
08:34A special court of Poxford judge had to come forward, interfere, and she had to say direct
08:39them to go do more investigation and now four people have been arrested.
08:44Our sources claim that the fourth person, Ganesan, he had more such videos of women,
08:49allegedly with Veeramani or so.
08:51That needs to be investigated.
08:53We are being put, you know, we need to show this just to show the magnitude of this particular
08:57man and the kind of like this particular case over there.
09:00Law is equal for everyone.
09:02You cannot bend it just because you are influential or you have political power.
09:06However, one judge, one judge made all the difference and then the Chief Minister Vijay
09:10has now come forward and he is given instructions stating that everybody involved must be arrested
09:15and should face the law.
09:17Four people have been arrested and here you get evidence after evidence as to what had
09:21happened.
09:22Shanti, before the arrest, she releases a video stating her life, the same Shanti who is considered
09:27as a co-accused in the case.
09:28She releases a video stating her life is in danger, under danger from Veeramani.
09:32Why wasn't that investigated?
09:35Why does, what made Shanti say that she claims that when she was 13, Veeramani approached her
09:42with sexual intention.
09:43A man to consider to be of high standards in the society behaving in such manner with so
09:48many evidence and yet it took almost 84 years for him.
09:52He is 84 nearly and now he is being arrested.
09:55Let's listen to what Shanti had said earlier.
09:59This is regarding one, Mr. Veeramani, who is the chairman of Jem Granite Group Companies.
10:06I'm a bit emotional to say anything spontaneously.
10:11So therefore, I return it.
10:13I am just reading it out.
10:15Hope the person reading will not mind it.
10:20I have been under possible life check from R. Veeramani, chairman Jem Group of Companies
10:27on the 78th Cathedral Road and his son, Mr. Siddharth Veeramani, for the reason explained below.
10:36I have been known to Mr. Veeramani from my childhood as a close family friend.
10:40He used to visit my house in the pretext of helping us on business fronts.
10:45Since I was two young, around 13 years old, I was not matured enough to foresee his bad
10:51intention and was unknowingly becoming a victim of his vicious sexual advances.
11:00He started acting like a godfather to me and used me for his personal benefits by assuring
11:08me with bright promises.
11:09I used to trust him 100% and do everything that he had asked me to do for him, including
11:17arranging funds through my known sources for his financial prizes.
11:21Even I have given him the full money I got from my father's property by trusting him that
11:28he will do good for me.
11:30Viewers, I have to clearly, very clearly make it here, clearly say that we are following
11:34all the kind of principles that are required to actually bring out these evidences and such
11:38because it is a boxer case.
11:40We are following every kind of rule over here.
11:42Apura Jai Chandran is once again live with us.
11:44Apura, I just want to ask a simple question.
11:47Shanti, a co-accused who has been arrested, a second arrest in this particular case, she is
11:51coming out and giving such a kind of, we should call it as a kind of a confession over there.
11:56And it took police to actually go ahead and almost five months to decide what exactly
12:00had happened over here.
12:01What is Shanti's role in this particular case, Apura?
12:04Well, in fact, if you do see, Shanti is also one of the co-accused in this case as well.
12:08And there have been complaints that have been given, not just against Viramani and Shanti,
12:12but also to other people.
12:14It was known that this was a nexus that had been led by two to three people, including Shanti
12:19as well, who knew what was happening.
12:22So when this kind of confession by Shanti comes out, we have to go ahead and see as
12:28to what was her part in this entire investigation that goes on.
12:32She says that Viramani was a family friend.
12:34He had been, you know, meeting with her since she was little.
12:38But when she did know or she did realize that this was a form of abuse there, why was it
12:43that she hadn't raised her voice up?
12:45Yes, it's very easy to go ahead and blame these victims, but that's not what we're looking
12:49into.
12:49We are looking into these accused here.
12:51She was also, for 20 years, close to two decades, she had also been one of these people
12:56who was in close contact with Viramani, you know, who was also a victim there.
13:01But at the same time, she was also the person who had, you know, stayed silent for so long.
13:06She had borne this abuse.
13:08She was also not only one of these victims, but several other minors that we are talking
13:12about.
13:13She says that Viramani is a family friend.
13:15But, you know, to see that this kind of a rot has been going on for almost close to two
13:21decades does shock us.
13:23Because you're talking about minors there, minors who do not know what is right and wrong,
13:27and to see them being exploited by none other than, you know, this person, he has a well-known
13:33name in the society, in the community as well.
13:35And to see that this shocker is now being coming out definitely does go ahead and expose a lot
13:41of the lapses, you know, right from the institution that has been protecting them so far to the
13:46people who have, in fact, thought that they can, you know, go ahead and do these kind of
13:51such heinous crimes and get away with it.
13:53The TVK government now has brought this out, and the main point that the TVK wants to say
13:58is, listen, we've got these documents now, we have people who we will go ahead and see
14:03that action is being taken.
14:04Top cops that have been called in for investigation, but that's not where they should stop.
14:09There needs to be some kind of solid action.
14:12Seven victims who have so far been identified, minors, but there is still a lot more from
14:16where this rot has emerged, and there needs to be additional investigation, be it from
14:21the media, such as, you know, the videos that we've exposed right now, or be it from the
14:26side of the police as well, and the government, when this investigation continues.
14:34Thank you, Prabhupada, for those updates.
14:36I would request you to stay back as well, considering that there is, you know, very clearly
14:40this is not one man's play.
14:42It needs to be investigated properly, considering who are all the people who are involved in
14:46it, because it's a huge nexus.
14:48Our sources claim that children from poor background, minors especially, are being the
14:53ones that are targeted.
14:54So there is a huge nexus, a massive web that is also being investigated right now.
14:59Anisha Mathur from our studio has more updates on this.
15:04Thank you, Pramod.
15:05Let's take a look, viewers, at what we know so far about Veeramani's gang of villains.
15:10As Pramod just said, this is not just one man doing what he was.
15:13It was a whole group of people helping him and grooming these minors.
15:20First up, of course, R. Veeramani, the chairman of Jen Granite, the kingpin accused of molesting
15:26minor girls.
15:27Then comes Mahendra Simhan, his close aide, who allegedly facilitated the crimes with Veeramani.
15:34Then comes Shanti, Mahendra's wife, who's accused of procuring minors for Veeramani.
15:40And she managed the house that was used for these sexual assaults.
15:45Ganeshan, Veeramani's close aide, who carried the video proof of the assault on minors but
15:52failed to report.
15:53Remember, viewers, as my colleagues have been discussing, this is not just one man, one
15:58powerful man playing with the lives of dozens of minor children.
16:03This is a whole group of people knowing what he was doing, helping him do it.
16:08And under the POCSO Act, remember, viewers, failure to report is also a crime.
16:14So what Mahendra Simhan or Shanti were doing was active abetment from according to what we
16:19can tell so far from the investigation.
16:21So far, it seems that at least these two persons were involved in active abetment, procurement
16:26of minors, which are separate offenses in themselves.
16:29Ganeshan, as well as a person who has been identified during this investigation so far
16:35as the person who had the videos of this man, Veeramani, exploiting, sexually assaulting
16:44minors.
16:45And this, viewers, gets us back to this huge question.
16:50One man in a position of a lot of money and powers, one man who is, as Apoora was just
16:58discussing, respected in society and yet this is what was being done, the videos that we
17:06have accessed, the investigation that is still ongoing and what the court has said with regard
17:13to the investigation so far.
17:16Remember, the police has identified already multiple survivors in this POCSO case and
17:23we still have the ongoing investigation.
17:26Let's listen in right now to what the responses are to this expose that India Today has brought
17:32before you.
17:36Looks like there is a major cover-up that has taken place with the help of some high-ranking
17:40police officials.
17:42Today, someone has gone to one of the IPS offices who prescribed for a closure, pre-closure
17:47of this case.
17:48So, if this investigation were to happen in a much more transparent manner and in the right
17:53direction, I think more wickets will fall, both in bureaucracy as well as in the political
17:59echelons of DMK.
18:00This evidence should be enough.
18:03Will the TVK bow down to power influence or will they provide justice?
18:09Well, I'm surprised you asked this question, because we know, Stalin, we're still not speaking
18:16up about this.
18:18You all should be really asking the question, why are you keeping your mouth shut, Stalin?
18:23Now, coming back to your question, without TVK being in the governance, you know, and the
18:30world knows that it would not have taken, gone this far.
18:34Within seven days after it came to our attention, our police department and our chief minister
18:41very clearly said he is personally monitoring this, and he said no matter who it is, including
18:47the former officer, whether it is IPS or AAS or anybody, will not be fed.
18:53Our chief minister is very clear.
18:55Even on women, it is a need of our children.
19:00It is a zero tolerance, and that needs to be shown.
19:03But we want to make sure that we get the bottom of it.
19:08It's not just the data money.
19:09Data money is in, and you know, we have immediately arrested.
19:13Now, these tentacles have gone through for a long time.
19:18As a matter of fact, when the police officers were denied yesterday, you've seen even the
19:24top police officers, including, I think I've seen the name of Karnal IPA, has said he
19:29is taking the semester.
19:30So, I think those people who have been...
19:33Tell me about this, Mr. Narayanan, the fact that now a Congress leader, Congress otherwise
19:37even seen as a DMK ally once in the government earlier, now says we informed the DMK, we gave
19:42them videos, screenshots, and yet nothing was done.
19:47Absolutely.
19:48That's a shame for Mr. Stalin.
19:51And I think either he personally knew or even he did not know, he did not, he already said
19:56in a sworn statement in the court that he does not have a grip on even the party IT wing.
20:01Now, I think he did not have governance also.
20:04I don't know whether he has personally known that.
20:06But for sure, it clearly shows the gross negligence on M.K.
20:10Stalin, who was the then chief minister, and the DMK government.
20:13But our government is very clear.
20:15We'll get to the bottom of it.
20:16We will make sure.
20:17We just don't even put cases.
20:19They need to be in the cellar for a very, very long time.
20:28Let me tell you another aspect of this particular case.
20:31This case needs to be divided into three parts.
20:34One, we are going to forget about the fight or tussle between the TVK government or DMK
20:38because that comes only after least.
20:40The important aspect is the first one is about the investigation.
20:43Who are the culprits?
20:44How did they form this nexus?
20:46And who are the victims?
20:48How were they roped in?
20:49That needs to be investigated.
20:51But another important aspect, which is of the current situation, that is more scary,
20:54and that needs to be investigated, is whether any attempt was made to hush this case, silence
21:01this case.
21:02Did power influence play a real role in this particular matter?
21:07Apparently, after India Today asked all these questions, the same kind of questions has been
21:10put forward within the police department.
21:12And right now, our sources claim that three police officers, top police officers, have been issued summons.
21:18Officers who were actually vested with the power to investigate this case back in 2025,
21:23after an F.I.R. was filed on 7th of October, 2025, as per the former law minister.
21:29Raghupadi, these three police officers were involved in investigating this matter.
21:33However, five months went on.
21:35Our sources claim that the police apparently went ahead, tried speaking to various other people
21:38over there, but that seems to be not that effective.
21:42Then what happens is that now summons have been issued to these three police officers,
21:47and police are also stating that they want to find out whether any kind of attempt was made
21:51to handle this, to silently bury this case or not.
21:55That is also being investigated.
21:57These are the important updates on this particular case of Veera Mani and what happened in the
22:02state of Tamil Nadu, the Jeffrey Epstein kind of case.
22:04It's absolutely shocking, and we keep bringing more and more information on this particular case.
22:08That's it for SoSouth.
22:09I thank our project for joining us.
22:11Thank you for watching SoSouth.
22:12Keep watching India today.