Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Friday launched a sharp attack on Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), accusing the state’s opposition parties of colluding to hide the Pocso act case in connection with granite baron R Veeramani, questioning their “silence” over the matter.
This comes amid the state government forming an all-women special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the Pocso case. The two other accused, Mahendra Simhan and his wife Shanti, were caretakers of the house. We have put him in jail. And now, they (DMK and AIADMK) are not talking about him.
Veeramani and two of his aides were arrested on August 28 this year, following an investigation into allegations that minor girls had been sexually assaulted at a private residence in Chennai’s Teynampet area.
The Police said the case followed the receipt of a USB drive containing video clips allegedly showing Veeramani sexually assaulting juvenile girls. Alluding to Veeramani in his speech during a bypoll campaign in Madurantakam, Vijay said, “This case came up even during the previous DMK government too, but they closed and hid that case and its history. Hitting out at the claims made by the DMK that they were born ‘solely’ for women’s safety, Vijay said, “This man has ruined so many young women. The SIT team would comprise additional commissioner of police (Central Crime Branch) P C Thenmozhi, joint commissioner (West Zone) Disha Mittal, superintendent of police J Mutharasi and deputy commissioner of police, (crime against women and children) V V Geethanjali, the government said.
