Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Govt. may not agree to Nedumaran mediation

By K.T. Sangameswaran

Chennai Sept.6 . The Tamil Nadu Government is not likely to consider the demand by the bandit, Veerappan, that the Tamilar Desiya Iyakkam leader, P. Nedumaran, be sent to the forests for negotiations, given the legal hurdles and the nature of the case in which he has been arrested.

Bangalore reports have it that the poacher-turned-sandalwood smuggler sent a cassette to the Karnataka Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, requesting him to send Mr. Nedumaran, who was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act recently, and the Tamil activist, Kolathur Mani, to the woods to discuss his demands in exchange for the release of the kidnapped former Karnataka Minister, H. Nagappa.

Police sources told The Hindu that the Tamil Nadu Government had already made it clear that it would not send any person to the forest as a mediator for securing the safe release of Mr. Nagappa. Only Karnataka should deal with obtaining his release. The Tamil Nadu Government had no official information from Karnataka on the contents of the cassette.

However, nabbing the brigand was the joint task of both the governments and there was "good coordination" between the two units of the Special Task Force.

The sources said Mr. Nedumaran was a remand prisoner now and legal problems might arise if he was sent as emissary. Above all, he had been arrested under the POTA and there was no question of his being allowed to play mediator. "As of now, the Government's policy is not to send any emissary".

Meanwhile, the STF suspects that the bandit should be hiding, along with Mr. Nagappa, within a 30 sq.km of forests from Hanure — bound on the west by the Doddasampangi forests and on the east by Edayarahalli forests.

The police say that not much information can be obtained on Veerappan's whereabouts by questioning Murugesan, who along with the bandit and his gang members, had tried to loot an Indian Bank branch at Pennagaram nearly a decade ago. Sources in the STF said the police questioning all Veerappan associates could have made Murugesan surrender. A couple of other cases were also pending against him.

`Break the myth'

. It is a `myth' to view the forest brigand, Veerappan, as `elusive' and it should be broken, the city Police Commissioner and former Special Task Force chief, K. Vijay Kumar, said today.

Asked about the `hostage crisis', Mr. Vijay Kumar, while making it clear it was not correct on his part to speak on the Veerappan operation from Chennai, said: ``As I was actively involved in the operation earlier, I can state we are doing our best to nab him. It is only a matter of time. Veerappan has a contact person in every village. He gets the villagers to work for him by being ruthless. Several families feel obliged to him, just for the fact that he has not harmed them'', the Commissioner said.

Technological assistance was bound to be an added advantage to the STF personnel. ``I cannot elaborate but I can say for sure that using modern technology is bound to be effective in tracking him down''.

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