Chennai, Oct 1:
The Madras High Court on Wednesday adjourned by four weeks, a plea filed by the DMK seeking a direction to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to summon Chief Minister Vijay and two Ministers–for making allegations against DMK of having tried to cover up the case–and collect evidence allegedly in their possession in the Veeramani POCSO case.
When the plea filed yesterday by DMK Treasurer TR.Baalu a day after lodging a complaint to SIT with a similar demand was taken up for hearing, Mr Justice.V.Lakshminarayanan said the SIT should be allowed to investigate without interference as it was constituted only four days back.
During the hearing, senior Counsel J. Ravindran argued that the party wanted those responsible, however high their position, to be held accountable. He said that if the CM or Ministers had any material suggesting a cover-up, it should be submitted to the SIT.
Stating that the allegation that the DMK protected child abusers was serious and should not be made for political purposes, the counsel contended that “This is not a matter to play politics. This has to be looked into. It’s a matter of humanity”.
The court said the SIT should be allowed to work without interference and adjourned the hearing by four weeks to enable it to proceed with the investigation.
Meanwhile, in another plea by Tulir NGO seeking to prevent media houses and others from publishing Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Material (CSEAM), the court directed the parties to file their counters and posted the hearing to October 6. The court said such material should be taken down and told the NGO that it could seek legal action if anyone continued to publish or broadcast it.
A day after lodging a complaint with the SIT probing the granite baron Veeramani case, Baalu on Tuesday knocked the doors of the Court seeking directions to the SIT to summon and question Vijay and the two Ministers for their allegations that the DMK had tried to shield the tainted bizman and cover up the case.
Baalu sought a direction to summon the three for questioning and obtain evidence and other materials in their possession relating to the allegations made in connection with the case.
He said the three had made accusations against the DMK in connection with the case in public and said their statements warranted investigation by the SIT. Vijay had, on September 25, publicly alleged that the DMK had protected Veeramani. On the same day, PWD and Sports Development Minister Aadhav Arjuna too accused the DMK of not only protecting Veeramani but also of improperly closing the case against him.The next day, Electricity and Law Minister Nirmal Kumar charged the DMK with receiving Rs.500 crore from the industrialist to shield him.
Terming the allegations were false and aimed at defaming the DMK and its leaders, he claimed that the trio possessed crucial information or evidence relating to the alleged offence but had not handed it over to the investigating officer as required under the POCSO Act, or that they had obtained investigation-related information from the case diary through unauthorised means and disclosed it publicly.
Baalu submitted that since the allegations made by the Chief Minister and the Ministers were directly connected with the probe, he sought directions to the SIT to summon them and secure from them, the evidence, documents and information forming the basis of their allegations.
He also sought to know whether they possessed supporting evidence, why such evidence, if available, had not been handed over to the investigators, whether they had obtained confidential investigation documents without authorisation and whether information from such documents had been disclosed publicly, and that they should be summoned for questioning into the allegations and the sources of the information cited by them.
Baalu also prayed for immediate collection and preservation of evidence in the case involving a minor. He also demanded action under the POCSO Act and applicable provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita if the allegations are found to be false, legally required information was withheld or confidential details of the investigation were disclosed without authorisation.
Veeramani, who has been arrested under the POCSO Act for sexually assaulting several minor girls over the years, is currently lodged in Puzhal prison. Shanthi and her husband Mahendran Simkan, who have acted as the support system for the tainted bizman have also been arrested. Ganesan, who had worked as Veeramani’s assistant for a long period, was also arrested on allegations that he possessed video footage of Veeramani allegedly engaging in sexual acts with minor girls but did not approach the police with the material or lodge a complaint.