R. Veeramani, founder of ‘Gem Granites’ | Photo Credit: Special Arranngement State Public Prosecutor R.
John Sathyan on Monday (October 26, 2026) told the Madras High Court that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) shall file the charge sheet soon in a case booked against 84-year-old R. Veeramani of ‘Gem Granites’ and others under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 for having sexually exploited many minor girls over the years.Justice V.
Lakshminarayanan recorded the submission made by the SPP and adjourned to November 12 two writ petitions filed by R. Varaaki and advocate M.L.
Ravi of Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi seeking the transfer of investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) since a few Indian Police Service (IPS) officers had allegedly attempted to save the prime accused.When the writ petitions were listed for admission on September 30, the judge had refused to order a CBI probe in the case and observed that the SIT must be allowed to investigate the matter in peace since it involved a highly sensitive issue of many minor girls, beloning to the Scheduled Castes, having been subjected to sexual abuse and the offence having been video recorded.The judge had also directed the writ petitioner Mr. Varaaki to appear before the SIT and submit materials, if he had any, to prove the alleged involvement of any IPS officer in concealing the crime and the monetary considerations that they had received for doing so.
He wanted the SIT to not only probe the POCSO offence but also the alleged offence of an attempt to shield the prime accused.Accordingly, the SIT filed its first status report before the judge on October 7 listing out the details of the investigation conducted by it. On perusing the report, the judge found that substantial progress had been made by the police and granted them further time to file yet another report since it was reported that many more minor victims were coming forward to lodge complaints.When the two writ petitions were taken up for hearing on Monday, the SIT filed its second status report providing details regarding the stage of the investigation.
After perusing it, the judge directed the Registrar (Judicial) to keep both the status reports in safe custody so that the details of the investigation do not leak out even before the police could complete the investigation and file their charge sheet.He then recorded the SPP’s statement that the charge sheet would be filed soon and adjourned the two writ petitions to November 12, 2026 for further hearing. Published - October 26, 2026 01:35 pm IST