Gem Veeramani POCSO case: Three former drivers of granite baron arrested

CHENNAI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the sexual abuse complaints against granite baron, R Veeramani (84) has arrested three long-time drivers of the businessman for aiding him by ferrying minor girls to the houses where they were abused. The arrested persons were identified as Lasar, Parthiban and Babu.

Lasar was with Veeramani for 23 years while the two others were employed with him for eight years.

SIT personnel conducted searches at the residences of the drivers and seized 8 mobile phones and 55 documents. So far, five cases have been registered against the granite baron based on complaints from the survivors. Police said that the survivors are also approaching them through the SIT's whatsapp helpline, 9345319676.

Last week, Commissioner A Amalraj had issued orders directing that Veeramani and two of his associates, Mahandra Simhan (63) and Shanthi (60), be detained under the Goondas act. Veeramani, who ran GEM granites and group of companies, and his associates have been in prison since August 29.

A pendrive with the video was sent to the city police’s ITPU (Immoral Trafficking Prevention Unit) in October 2025 and a case was registered on October 7, 2025. However, a closure report was filed by the city police in February 2026 stating that the video is unclear, which was rejected by the special court judge after which police began investigations again.

Police identified the elderly man in the video as prominent industrialist Veeramani and began probe. Another person, Ganesan (42), a former employee of Veermani, was arrested for being in possession of a video of Veermani sexually abusing a minor and not alerting the police.

The case was eventually transferred to an all-women Special Investigation Team (SIT), supervised by Commissioner A Amalraj.