Veeramani POCSO Case: Co-Accused Seeks Bail; Second Case Filed In Chennai

India Today

Custody details and bail arguments have emerged in the Veeramani POCSO case, with co-accused Shanti seeking relief before the court. Her plea challenges the evidence gathered, citing reliance on a pen drive from an unidentified source, an absence of victim identification or medical examination, and an alleged delay of over six years in investigating a 2019 incident. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Police have registered a second POCSO case against Veeramani following a complaint by the mother of another alleged victim. As an all-woman Special Investigation Team continues its probe and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights takes cognizance, the DMK has approached the Madras High Court demanding SIT questioning over allegations surrounding the case.

Transcript

00:00Moving on, as promised here on India Today, we're not taking the focus away from the Veeramani Boxo case.

00:06Every update that's coming in, we're tracking closely as far as the investigation goes in this particular case

00:12and ensuring that the cover-up is exposed, is investigated fairly.

00:17Let's get you the latest updates that we've picked up.

00:19The two co-accused in this case, Shanti and Mahindra Sinha,

00:23who were essentially running that house for Veeramani, allegedly supplying girls, minors for him as well.

00:29They're in custody, and we've accessed the bail police.

00:33What have they said while arguing for bail? What has Shanti said?

00:36Shanti's argued that the case is primarily based on poor evidence, calling the pen drive poor evidence.

00:43She said that this was handed over by an unidentified person,

00:46and so the complainant is neither the alleged victim nor an eyewitness.

00:50Herpley also claims that no child victim has been identified, examined or produced,

00:55and that there's no medical examination or victim statement.

00:59Now, also another point that Shanti's raised in her bail plea is that there's been a huge delay in the

01:04investigation,

01:05suggesting that it's been more than six years, referring to one incident, the alleged crime of 2019,

01:11saying after so many years, suddenly this case has come up,

01:15and so there's no direct allegation against her of sexual assault or of harassment.

01:20She's around 60 years old, so she's also raised a delay in her production before the magistrate as a ground

01:26for bail.

01:27This comes even as a second POXO case has been filed against Veeramani,

01:32and that's something the police are investigating.

01:35This complaint has been filed by the mother of an alleged assault victim.

01:40Now, the NCPCR, which is the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights,

01:45has also taken cognizance of all of the allegations.

01:48The Tamil Nadu police has, of course, formed an SIT, an all-woman SIT, to probe the case.

01:54The DNK has also stepped in here, with DNK MP TR Balu moving the Madras High Court,

02:00seeking an SIT questioning of Chief Minister Vijay and several ministers,

02:05essentially suggesting that the TV case should be in the dock over allegations they have made of the DNK protecting

02:10Veeramani.

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