Tamil Nadu police on Tuesday arrested another person, identified as Ganesan, in connection with the Pocso case against granite baron R Veeramani for possession of a video that shows Veeramani acting inappropriately with a girl, police said.
Veeramani, 84, and his aides Shanthi and her husband Mahandra Simhan, were arrested on August 29, in a Pocso case for sexually abusing multiple minors from impoverished backgrounds at a guest house in Teynampet systematically over multiple decades. The three are in the Puzhal Central Prison near Chennai.
In a statement, Tamil Nadu crime branch said, “Ganesan who worked for 23 years at Gem Granites and is currently employed at another private firm, Balaji Global Enterprises, was arrested for having a video on his mobile phone showing Veeramani acting inappropriately with a young girl and failing to report it to the police.”
He was produced before the court and remanded in Puzhal Central Prison, the crime branch said.
Police said they will investigate the source of the “explicit” video to find out who sent it to Ganesan and why he failed to inform the police.
{{/usCountry}}Police said they will investigate the source of the “explicit” video to find out who sent it to Ganesan and why he failed to inform the police.
{{/usCountry}}Also Read:‘Blurry video’: Police seeks R Veeramani sexual assault case closure; Pocso court denies
A senior police officer, requesting anonymity said that Ganesan took care of Veeramani’s financial transactions and was instrumental in selling his property at East Coast Road to help him evade arrest in the case.
Police said it was also trying to verify the claim of a social media user that Veeramani’s East Coast Road property worth ₹120 crore and another one worth ₹10 crore in Ooty were sold and money was paid to some people to help him in the case.
“We are looking for a person whose name is mentioned in the post,” the official said. Police did not confirm whether they have summoned the person mentioned in the social media post.
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) propaganda secretary and minister for school education, Rajmohan Arumugam, said that new information is emerging every hour in the case and referred to it as ‘Gem Granites Files’ drawing similarity with Epstein Files.
“Similarly, this ‘Gem Granites File’ appears to involve many individuals; several crores of rupees have been paid, and many people have been silenced. Look at how they closed a case stating there was no evidence or no one to file a complaint,” he said on Tuesday.
He accused the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government of shielding the accused. “If the case was investigated properly, it would have been a massive eye-opener,” he said.
DMK, however, said no one was protected, as the police were investigating the case to collect proper evidence against the accused.