``I am willing to meet any scribe who is trustworthy and bold enough to venture into the forests,'' says the forest brigand in a video-recorded interview to the Tamil journal Netrikan which was screened for mediapersons on Thursday even as Sithan alias `Thuppaki' Sithan, stated to be one of his five commanders, today surrendered before R R Gopal, editor of Tamil fortnightly Nakkheeran at the magazine's office here.

Gopal said Sithan had contacted the magazine's reporter in Erode and offered to surrender. The reporter in turn contacted Gopal, who instructed him to bring Sithan here.

In his latest interview, Veerappan has made no fresh demands for surrender and neither does he seem interested in doing soin the near future.

``Let me see how the Government treats my three aides who turned themselves in. Only then can I consider it,'' he states.

Squatting on a tree in the forest, which he identifies as close to Gundalpatti on the Karnataka-Kerala border, Veerappan comes down heavily on the judiciary and claims that he has no faith in judges.

Commenting on all subjects including the recent elections, he says the bus fare hike and price rise in the State were responsible for the DMK's poor showing.

``If Kalaignar (M Karunandihi) had not increased bus fares, he would have become the king of Delhi,'' is his opinion.

Responding to mediapersons queries, Netrikan editor A S Mani said that he was yet to get a response from the Government to the video-recorded message from Veerappan. ``Even if the Government does not permit Netrikan to play mediator, we will meet Veerappan again and urge him to surrender''.

Asked if he would help the government nab Veerappan, Mani retorted that he would notresort to any act of betrayal.

Meanwhile, Police Commissioner P Kalimuthu today said that if Veerappan wanted to surrender it should be on an ``unconditional'' basis.

Talking to mediapersons after the surrender of Veerappan's lieutenant, Sithan alias `Thuppaki' Sithan, he said the operations against the brigand would be intensified.

He said Veerappan now only had a handful of men with him. With the surrender of Sithan, a total of four of the brigand's men have surrendered. Five others of the brigand's gang were nabbed by the Special Task Force.

Kalimuthu said Sithan would be taken to Erode for judicial remand.

Kalimuthu said Sithan's nephew, working as a telephone operator in a telephone exchange in Erode, had refused to co-operate with police. However, he was passing on information about Veerappan to journalists.