The Hindu : 'CRPF has the expertise to nab Veerappan'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 28, 2002

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National

'CRPF has the expertise to nab Veerappan'

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI DEC. 27. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Director-General, Trinath Mishra, today asserted that his force had the ability and expertise to nab the forest brigand Veerappan regardless of the harsh terrain where he is suspected to be hiding.

``How can Veerappan go scot-free when his gang has been reduced to a handful of members'' Dr. Mishra asked at the annual CRPF conference here.

He said the CRPF team sent to assist the State machinery following the abduction of the former Karnataka Minister, M. Nagappa, was called back as the task assigned to it would not have yielded result. Suggesting a "deliberate slackness on the part of the State police", Dr. Mishra said that both the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police had the ability to track down Veerappan.

Replying to question on the two attacks on the Raghunath temple in Jammu this year, Dr. Mishra said he had advised the temple authorities to take certain immediate precautions after the first attack. "For reasons unknown, they did not implement the suggestions. During the second attack, the CRPF personnel found it difficult to single out the terrorists due to inadequate lighting on the premises. In fact, one of our jawans was shot while trying to trace the terrorists.''

Dr. Mishra said the process of handing over complete charge of internal security to the CRPF — based on the recommendation of the Group of Ministers — was delayed due to excessive deployment of the force during elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat.

Elaborating on the achievements of his force in anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir, he said 178 terrorists were gunned down and 105 arrested, with the recovery of 278 arms and 12,641 rounds of ammunition. However, 45 jawans laid down their lives and 112 were injured in over 200 encounters.The CRPF jawans arrested 1,122 extremists and killed 46 in the northeastern region this year. Eleven jawans were hidden and 26 injured in 76 encounters.

Dr. Mishra lauded the exemplary courage displayed by the CRPF jawans in gunning down the terrorists who stormed Parliament in New Delhi last year. A woman constable, Kamlesh Kumari, who was killed during the attack, was awarded Ashok Chakra posthumously. Last year, another woman constable, Bindu Kumre, was killed in a "fidayeen'' attack at the Srinagar. She was awarded one Police Medal for Gallantry for saving the lives of her colleagues

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