Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna has assured bandit Veerappan a free and fair trial if he agrees to surrender.Addressing heads of various mutts in Bangalore today, Krishna said the state did not want to kill Veerappan. The seers handed over a copy of a resolution to the Chief Minister that said they would help Veerappan during his trial if he surrenders. The seers have decided to broadcast a Tamil translation of the meeting, asking the bandit to ‘‘reform and surrender’’. Tamil channels, films to return: Kharge Bangalore: The Karnataka government assured a state AIADMK delegation here on Tuesday that it would make efforts to resume screening of Tamil films and transmission of TV channels that have been off air since the Cauvery standoff. Home Minister M. Mallikarjuna Kharge said he will convene a meeting of Kannada and Tamil organisations to discuss the issue of restarting the Tamil channels and screening of films, said AIADMK Secretary V. Pugazhendi. — ENS The seers said they wanted to break the deadlock over securing the release of Janata Dal (U) leader Nagappa who was abducted on August 25. They also demanded the release of Kolathur Mani so that he could be sent as an emissary but Krishna said there were legal hurdles. ‘‘During actor Rajkumar’s kidnap, we did not have these legal hurdles. However, Justice Barucha had spelt out the guidelines for the state to withdraw the case. Besides, we had people like Nedumaran and Mani,’’ he said. ‘‘Now both of them are in jail. But we are trying to secure Nagappa’s release. One such step was the withdrawal of STF operations.’’ Sources said that when the seers insisted on Mani’s release, Home Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge intervened. Kharge said Mani was facing charges in Tamil Nadu too. Even if Karnataka withdrew the cases, Tamil Nadu will not, he said.
