DMK president MK Stalin has broken his silence on the Veeramani POCSO case, rejecting allegations that his government had attempted to shield the granite baron and accusing the ruling TVK of using the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls as a political tool ahead of the bye-elections.
In a statement, Stalin said Veeramani, those who allegedly abetted him and anyone who tried to protect him must all face the law and receive the maximum punishment, irrespective of their positions. “This is the DMK’s stand,” Stalin said, adding that it was also his wish “as the leader of a political movement, as a family head and as a human being with a conscience.”
Amid the continuing controversy, the Tamil Nadu government today placed two senior IPS officers – A Arun and Dr N Kannan – under compulsory wait. Stalin’s sharpest criticism was directed at what he called an attempt to use the suffering of the alleged survivors as an election issue. TVK spokesperson M Sathya Kumar rejected Stalin’s allegation that the ruling party was using the Veeramani case as a bye-election tool. The exchange marks a fresh escalation in the political blame game over the handling of the case, with the TVK and DMK trading allegations over whether Veeramani was protected during the previous regime and whether the case is now being politically exploited by the ruling party. The case centres on Gem Granites Chairman R Veeramani, who was arrested along with Shanti and her husband Mahendra Simhan in August in connection with allegations of sexual abuse of minor girls. Police sources say, though an FIR against Veeramani was registered, they did not arrest him and subsequently sought to close the case, citing lack of strong evidence. Recently under the TVK refine the Special POCSO Court, however, refused to accept the closure report and ordered further investigation. The investigation has since widened, with police telling the court that several other women who were allegedly minors when the incidents took place had also been identified and their statements recorded. Police have alleged that Shanti and Mahendra Simhan facilitated Veeramani’s alleged offences. The handling of the case has now itself come under scrutiny. The claims are now part of the scrutiny into whether the police response was delayed. The allegations of crimes against women and girls were a key law-and-order issue during the political contest that brought the TVK to power. The government order does not cite reasons for placing the two officers under compulsory wait. Assistant Commissioner of Police Yasmin has also been placed under vacancy reserve.
On the delay issue raised by the DMK, Kumar said the delay was due to practical difficulties faced by the new government and was not timed to coincide with the bye-elections. The case came to the police’s attention in October 2025 under the previous DMK regime after a child-rights activist according to police approached the Anti-Vice Squad with a pen drive containing video footage purportedly showing a minor girl being sexually assaulted. A Congress functionary has claimed that a complaint concerning Veeramani and an associate was submitted to Chennai police in November 2024, during the DMK regime, and that video material was subsequently shared with an Anti-Vice Squad officer. With Chief Minister Vijay set to campaign in bye-election-bound Madurantakam on September 28, ahead of the October 6 poll, all eyes will be on his response to the Veeramani controversy and how the ruling party pitches the issue during the campaign.
Stalin said no order had been issued during the DMK government to protect anyone in the Veeramani case. Taking on the TVK tacitly, Stalin accused a group of spreading false allegations against the DMK for narrow political purposes, describing it as “disgusting”. He said that in cases involving crimes against women and girls during the DMK regime, accused persons were arrested impartially, chargesheets were filed and convictions secured. He contrasted this with what he alleged were “shameful acts of inaction and compromises” in the present TVK government, including after women had publicly levelled sexual allegations against ruling party functionaries. “The ruling party should stop spreading canards through the media,” he said, and appealed that the sole objective should be to secure justice for the girls. He said the issue had been flagged by the court and maintained that Chief Minister Vijay wanted to ensure justice. The alleged perpetrator was subsequently arrested and police later said the survivor in the video had also been traced and her statement recorded before a magistrate.
Arun, now Additional Director General of Police and Director of the Tamil Nadu Police Academy was the Chennai Police Commissioner earlier, and Kannan, now Inspector General and Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City, was the Additional Commissioner of Police in Chennai then when the complaint and video material were allegedly brought to the police’s attention. She had submitted the closure report in the Veeramani case before the court in February this year.
