The Madras High Court, on September 30, 2026, heard a petition filed by the DMK concerning a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that is probing a child sexual abuse case involving R. Veeramani of Gem Granites. Justice V. Lakshminarayanan, after listening to arguments from the Advocate General, adjourned the petition by four weeks, stating that the SIT must be allowed to work in peace and that a sensitive matter such as child sexual abuse should not be politicised.
In its petition, the DMK requested that the SIT summon Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and Ministers Aadhav Arjuna and C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar for inquiry. The party alleged that the ministers may have possessed material that could prove the accusations that the party shielded the accused during its previous tenure. The DMK also demanded that the SIT act on a representation filed on September 27, 2026.
A separate defamation suit was filed by the DMK against the two ministers, seeking ₹1 crore in damages for alleged false accusations. The suit also named multinational corporations such as X Corp, Meta Platforms, and YouTube as defendants, with the party requesting the court to order the removal of defamatory posts from those platforms.
The ministers countered that the DMK failed to issue prior notices to them as required under Section 80(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, and therefore the suit was not maintainable in law. Justice Lakshminarayanan’s decision to adjourn the petition allows the SIT to continue its investigation without interference from political proceedings.
