Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Chennai Press Club president M Suresh Vedanayagam and journalists D Prakash and S Sarath Kuumar in connection with a case involving allegations of threatening journalists over the Gem Veeramani case, news agency ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat

The development comes amid the ongoing investigation into the cases registered against granite industrialist Veeramani and others under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. According to police, Veeramani was arrested in three cases on October 28, while Shanthi, Mahendra Simhan and Lazar were arrested in another case.

Police said the case initially came to light following the recovery of a pen drive containing videos of alleged sexual offences, which led to the initial apprehension of Veeramani. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted on the orders of the Director General of Police/Head of Police Force, Tamil Nadu, to investigate the POCSO cases, police said.

Source: ANI via DevDiscourse

So far, eight accused, including the main accused Veeramani, have been arrested and lodged in Puzhal Central Prison, and eight cases have been registered against Veeramani and others under the POCSO Act, police said. The allegations against all the accused remain under investigation and have not been established by a court.

The accused businessman was first arrested on August 29 along with two other alleged accused, and a POCSO Special Court subsequently granted three days of custody for his interrogation, police said. Police have also said they are taking steps in relation to an absconding accused linked to the wider case, whose passport they are moving to freeze.

Further investigation in the wider case is underway and a chargesheet will be filed soon, police said. The anticipatory bail means the Press Club president and the two journalists cannot be arrested in the threatening-journalists case without the court's protection being considered, while the investigation continues.