Bandit King now demands release of 5 TN convicts

Bandit King now demands release of 5 TN convicts
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

CHENNAI, AUG 7: Five Tamil Nadu prisoners whose release outlaw Veerappan has demanded are understood to be members of two extremist outfits in the state, reliable sources who heard the cassette containing the demands said.

The sources said the cassette specified five prisoners and sought their release as one of the conditions for release of Kannada thespian Rajkumar and three others held hostage by the outlaw since July 30.

Two of the convicts were stated to belong to Tamil Nadu Liberation Army (TNLA) and others to Tamil National Retrieval Troops (TNRT).

Names of the extremists, according to these sources, are: Venkatesan and Ponnivalavan (both TNLA), Sathyamurthy, Manikandan and Muthukumaran (TNRT).

Joint response of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to this particular demand was that it will be considered favourably.

Significantly, the 10 demands were not in voice of Veerappan, but that of an unnamed associate. Veerappan, sources said, makes only a brief introductory remark and hands over task of reading out the demands to another person.

The 10 demands, in exactly the same order as released by the government yesterday, were made in pure Tamil and not in conversational language usually used by Veerappan, they said.

The sources said the demand for adequate compensation to the families of nine murdered Dalits was a reference to the March 11 carnage in a Dalit locality at Kambalapalli village in Kolar district of Karnataka.

The TNLA, an extremist outfit started in 1980's, has been involved in a number of blast cases, attacks on police stations and raids on armouries. It is now said to have split into a number of groups. Many of its members are in jail.

The TNRT was an outfit whose members had undergone training under LTTE in 1990. Its existence was discovered by the state `Q' Branch-CID during probe into the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

Two TNRT leaders, Ravi and Mahesh, were charge-sheeted in the Rajiv Gandhi case. Ravi is undergoing life imprisonment, while Mahesh was acquitted by Supreme Court from charge of conspiracy to kill Gandhi. Some TNRT members were convicted in a state police case under TADA.

Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna today said the government was yet to hear from forest brigand Veerappan on release of Kannada thespian Rajkumar and three others held hostage by him since last nine days.

``We have no update on any development other than yesterday's in which both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu responded to the 10 demands of Veerappan'', he told a press conference here.

Krishna said the government had credible information that the bandit and his gang along with the hostages were holed up in a 15 km radius of Gajanur, from where the actor was taken into captivity on July 30.

Krishna said according to information received by the state, members of the gang spotted an electricity board lineman working on a pole about 10 to 15 km away from Gajanur yesterday and suspected him to be a policemen drafted for surveillance on the gang.

However, on being convinced after questioning that the stranger was an electricity board employee, the gang members paid him Rs 200 and ordered him to get ``mutton curry''. Krishna said identity of the lineman was yet to be established.

In another incident, reported from Satyamangalam forest range, the gang accosted a villager, who was searching for his missing cow, but let him go, when they were convinced that he was not a policeman.

Krishna said these incidents indicated that Veerappan and his gang were holed up in forests in radius of 15 kms of Gajanur.

The CM said he had no telephonic conversation with Tamil Nadu counterpart M Karunanidhi on the crisis today.