MADURAI: Alleging the involvement of police personnel in the POCSO case against granite baron R Veeramani, Energy Minister R Nirmal Kumar on Saturday claimed that the previous DMK government had registered an FIR in the case only to facilitate an extra-judicial negotiation to extort crores of rupees from the accused.

“Whenever the Intelligence wing got information about any incident in the State, no matter how minor, they definitely brought that to the knowledge of then chief minister MK Stalin, who also held the Home portfolio,” the minister said, questioning how then could the DMK leader remain silent despite knowing about this incident.

“As the DMK is overreacting to the case, something must be wrong. We need to examine why they are overreacting,” he said, adding that several criminal cases reported during the previous DMK regime had been suppressed.

Former Law minister Raghupathi had also dismissed the matter, stating that the video in question was not clear, Nirmal Kumar said.

In a crime of such serious nature, involving the allegations of sexual exploitation of children, the police would normally have formed a special team to investigate it. However, in this case, the police filed a closure report in 2024, citing insufficient evidence, and they reopened the case later, claiming they had received an anonymous complaint and registered an FIR in 2025.

However, this was done only to facilitate negotiations and extort crores of rupees from the accused through extrajudicial settlements, Nirmal Kumar alleged.

“It is impossible that such massive extortion attempts and extra-judicial settlements took place without the knowledge of Intelligence officers,” the minister claimed.

He alleged that attempts had been made to protect Veeramani and that several persons threatened and extorted money from him, he said.

Nirmal Kumar further said that a transparent probe would be conducted under the direct supervision of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.

“The investigation will be absolutely impartial. Every individual involved, from those who attempted to shield the accused, profited from extortion and to those who suppressed evidence, will face strict legal action,” he added.