GEM Granites’ Veeramani Probe: Madras HC Gets Plea For CBI, SIT Inquiry

A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking transfer of the investigation against granite baron R. Veeramani to the CBI or a Special Investigation Team, in a case involving allegations of sexual assault on minor girls. The plea asks that the case be moved from the Greater Chennai City police.

On Friday, the First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan told Senior Counsel N.L. Rajah, who mentioned the matter, that the plea would come up once the Registry checks the papers and assigns a number to the petition. C. Rajhasekaran of Chennai filed the PIL, saying recent disclosures in Chennai raised grave allegations of sexual abuse against minor girls and pointed to flaws in the way the probe began.

FIR And Initial Probe

He said that the Central Crime Branch police in Chennai had registered a First Information Report (FIR) with respect to the offence on October 7, 2025, after a child rights worker had approached the police and handed over a pen drive containing a video of sexual abuse of a minor girl. The investigation thereafter did not result in immediate identification of the minor or the arrest of the persons allegedly involved in the crime. The police, instead, filed a report before a special court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2021, expressing their decision to drop further action.

However, the special court refused to accept the report and ordered further investigation. The subsequent investigation resulted in the arrest of the granite baron and two of his co-accused. The investigation widened substantially thereafter, and some of the victims were identified and their statements were also recorded.

Media And Social Posts

Though the investigation was proceeding in a swift manner, “the press and media have already taken the matter by all the assumptions and linked up all the political parties and other persons who held high constitutional posts. It is submitted that it is not only interrupting the ongoing investigation but also creating vagueness in the mind of the general public,” the petitioner complained. Highlighting that photographs have surfaced on social media of Ministers of the ruling party (the TVK) as well as leaders of Opposition parties having rubbed shoulders with the prime accused, the petitioner said that those images were being used to portray that the politicians were hand in glove with the accused.

“It is submitted that the press and media, across all formats, are utilising the said images in order to prejudice the minds of the general public,” he said and urged the court to order a probe either by the CBI or a Special Investigation Team (SIT), as the issue was being “sensationalised and politicised.” The petitioner also sought a direction to the press and media, including social media, and the general public from, in any manner, circulating any pictures, screenshots, videos or any content in relation to the case of sexual assault.

Urgent CSEAM Plea

On Friday, Justice V. Lakshminarayanan of the High Court said he would hear an urgent writ petition by afternoon. Tulir Charitable Trust, which works on prevention and healing of child sexual abuse, has sought orders to the Tamil Nadu government, State police, India Today, Republic TV, Sathyam TV and others to identify, take down and block access to Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM). The organisation said: “The circulation of such material outside the investigative process raises serious concerns regarding the custody and confidentiality of highly sensitive evidence and poses an immediate and continuing threat to the privacy, dignity, and safety of the victims.”