Chennai, Sep 23 — School Education Minister Rajmohan said Wednesday that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay and promised that everyone found to be involved would face action.
Rajmohan accused the previous DMK government of failing to act despite evidence and said the TVK administration had taken up the case within months of coming to power.
The investigation was comprehensive, he told reporters after inaugurating a renovated pond on the Government Museum campus in Egmore.
The minister asked why the case had remained out of public view for a year and questioned whether DMK functionaries were protecting anyone connected to it. He also asked who directed that the case be closed.
He directed his questions at the previous government, including former minister S. Regupathy, whose remarks on the matter he criticised.
“The Veeramani case is under the direct supervision of the Chief Minister. No one can escape,” Rajmohan said.
He added that the government would examine other cases it believed had been kept under wraps and bring their details to light.
His comments came amid a dispute between the ruling TVK and the DMK over how the earlier investigation was handled.
Turning to the proposed Secretariat-cum-Assembly complex, Rajmohan said the government had not settled on Pattinapakkam as its location. Vijay would make the final decision and announce it soon, he said.
The project has prompted discussion over where the state’s new administrative complex should be built.
Rajmohan also called for the early release of findings from studies at Keezhadi. Describing the archaeological site as an identity of civilisation as a whole, beyond its importance to Tamil history, he urged the Union government to make the research findings public without delay.
Asked about the Assembly by-elections in Dharapuram and Madurantakam, he expressed confidence in the ruling party’s prospects. Conditions were favourable for TVK to win both seats, Rajmohan said, as the party prepared for the contests.
The remarks covered three matters facing the government alongside the Veeramani investigation: the location of its proposed headquarters, the publication of archaeological findings and the party’s first tests in the two by-elections.