‘Blurry video’: Police seeks R Veeramani sexual assault case closure; Pocso court denies

The Tamil Nadu police had sought to close the sexual assault case against prominent industrialist R Veeramani, 84, citing lack of evidence but a Pocso court denied the request in February this year, HT has learnt.

The case against Veeramani – who has been in jail along with two accomplices since August — was lodged on October 6, 2025 after a volunteer working in a trust run by the industrialist filed a complaint with the police’s central crime branch (CCB). The volunteer submitted a pen drive containing disturbing footage of an older man assaulting a minor girl claiming it was handed over to him by an unidentified man.

Veeramani, however, wasn’t arrested.

One reason for the delay in arresting Veeramani under the Pocso Act was that the video footage of the crime was blurry, prevented police from confirming the suspect’s identity, an officer said on the condition of anonymity. “There were no other grounds to investigate further leading the police to drop the investigation,” he said.

Besides, the police were not able to ascertain the age and identity of the victim in the purported video which was taken in 2019 as per the watermark in the surveillance video.

The police officer said the case was not officially closed but kept open on the condition that the investigations will be revived if fresh evidences surfaced.

Between February and August, police investigations revealed more murky details.

Investigations have revealed that Veeramani might have committed similar crimes as far back as in 2003 or earlier, the officer said, adding that one earlier victim might have died by suicide.

The officer said police unearthed an SMS from Shanthi in which she seems to be informing Veeramani that one of the victims allegedly died by suicide and the message was referring to an incident in 2003.

It is at this time that police stumbled upon few more digital evidences, thereby strengthening the case, the officer said.

“The police teams conducted a search at the rented property in Teynampet and recovered more footages of the alleged sexual assault on young girls and investigators found that attempts were made to destroy evidence. The seized items were sent to the forensic department,” the officer said.

With the fresh evidence surfacing, police continued the investigation and arrested the alleged perpetrators in August this year, the officer said.

On the modus operandi of how the girls were introduced to the prime accused, the officer said he has been exploiting girls from underprivileged communities seeking financial assistance, introduced to him by Shanthi.

“This is how the young girls belonging to such families fell prey to him. He used to give them chocolates, mobile phones or even cash assistances”.

In addition, the officer said, Shanthi used to bring girls aged between 12 and 16 years to properties located in and around Chennai as per the orders of Veeramani and this has been going on for several years. “So, this incident not only occurred in that rented property but also in various locations in and around Chennai, owned by Veeramani and his accomplices” he said.

Meanwhile, police said more victims have been identified and their statements have been recorded.

HT reached out to the promoters of GEM Group of Companies and their legal team multiple times but received no response.