Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the SIT probing the POCSO cases against granite baron R Veeramani to respond to his daughter Archana's petition alleging human rights violations by the team when she was subjected to questioning after being made to deboard a Singapore-bound flight.
Chennai police's Anti-Vice Squad and Central Crime Branch initially arrested Veeramani on August 29, 2026, and he was imprisoned here; subsequently, a dedicated Special Investigation Team (SIT) is handling the case and the widening network of accomplices.
According to the petitioner, on October 23, she was scheduled to board a flight to Singapore to visit her son when airline staff ordered her to deplane without citing any reason. SIT officials then took her into custody for questioning.
In her plea, Archana claimed that she was detained without any formal summons, warrant, or Look-out Circular (LOC). She further stated that she has been suffering from chronic health issues for the past 20 years and fainted at the SIT office during the ordeal, following which she had to be rushed to a hospital.
She alleged that the SIT issued a formal summons to appear only on October 25 after she was hospitalised and sought quashing of the summons, a direction for a probe into the human rights violations, and also requested that authorities be directed to return her seized laptop and documents.
When the matter came up for hearing before Justice V. Lakshminarayanan on Wednesday, the petitioner's counsel argued that Archana, who is not an accused in the case, was subjected to severe harassment. The counsel claimed she was forced to wait for an extended duration and was even denied permission to use the restroom, causing her to lose consciousness at the SIT office.
Countering the allegations, the prosecution submitted that when police officers initially went to the petitioner's residence to serve the summons, she was unavailable. The summons was then handed over to the security guard and forwarded to her WhatsApp number, after which her mobile phone was switched off.
Acting on intelligence that she was leaving India, officials proceeded to the airport to bring her for questioning. The prosecution categorically denied the allegations of human rights violations, calling them completely baseless, and requested time to file a formal reply.
After recording submissions from both sides, the judge ordered the SIT to file its response and adjourned the hearing to November 17.
