Trigger warning: This report contains references to child sexual abuse.

Last year, in October, the Chennai police had received a pen drive containing the visuals of a minor being sexually assaulted. It came to light that the man in the video was an influential mining baron in his early 80s. However, in a major travesty of a process, the police tried to close the case. 

The investigation was reopened in July 2026, and on August 29, the police arrested Rangaswami Veeramani, founder of GEM Granites and the GEM Group of Companies, along with Mahendra Simhan, MD of Gem Software Solutions, and his wife, Shanthi, who are accused of facilitating the alleged offences at their house. The three were produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody.

While the police had first attempted to drop the investigation claiming that the child’s identity could not be confirmed, a Special Court judge for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) refused to accept the police’s closure report, forcing the Chennai police to reopen the case. The re-investigation led to the recovery of a gadget containing what is described as the original visuals of the assault from one of the accused’s residences.

TNM tried to fill in the gaps of how systemic corruption and lack of will led to the prolonged denial of justice to the child, while the perpetrators remained shielded by power and influence.

The pen drive containing assault visuals

It was last year, on October 6, 2025, that a child rights activist approached the Anti-Vice Squad of the Chennai police and handed over a pen drive containing a video that showed a minor girl being sexually assaulted.

According to the police, the activist said that an unidentified person had visited her office and handed over a pen drive containing the footage and a letter. She also told the police that a note that came with the pen drive said that the man in the video was GEM Granites founder R Veeramani and the assault was happening at the house of Mahendra and Shanthi.

Police sources told TNM that the CCTV footage had a timestamp dating back to 2019. 

No progress for a year

According to the police, upon receiving the video footage and the complaint, an FIR was registered against Veeramani and Shanthi under the POCSO Act and sent to the court.

In October 2025, investigating officers apparently made several attempts to identify and locate the minor, but there was no........

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