Meanwhile, Veerappan widow eyes politics

‘‘The STF had tortured and harassed hundreds of innocent tribals under the pretext of searching for my husband. I will not rest until justice is rendered to them,’’ claimed Muthulakshmi (34).

The district authorities, however, have been firm that no memorial would be permitted to be built for a ‘‘criminal’’, killed in an ambush code-named Operation Cocoon on October 18, 2004.

Muthulakshmi said her new outfit would have 15 members in the beginning. ‘‘Gradually, it will expand and include many more members,’’ she said.

The new outfit will also be Muthulakshmi’s plank for a political launch which besides having the backing of a few human rights activists, will have some pan-Tamil organisations, including the Tamil Nationalist Movement (TNM) led by Pazha Nedumaran.

The TNM leader had led the negotiating team during the famous Rajkumar kidnap episode in the year 2000 and had been detained (and subsequently released) under POTA by the J Jayalalithaa government for speaking in support of the LTTE. Nedumaran will unveil the portrait of Veerappan at the tomb at the Veerappan anniversary function.

The protagonist of Operation Cocoon, Additional Director General of Police, K Vijayakumar, who led the STF in its successful anti-Veerappan operation, decided to take off on a brief trip to Hyderabad today and was not available for comment. While Jayalalitha had granted double promotions and announced other goodies for the 750-odd STF men, Vijayakumar, Senthamarai Kannan and Shanmugavel, the three IPS officers who played a key role in trapping Veerappan, could not benefit from her largesse as the Union Home Ministry refused to sanction their promotions.

While 80 per cent of the Tamil Nadu STF personnel had sought to be transferred out, new members have been inducted into the Force. ‘‘Two companies of the present STF have been deployed in the Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri forest ranges, once Veerappan territory, to search for fleeing Naxalites from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh,’’ said a senior officer, who did not want to be named.

‘‘With the killing of Veerappan, our brief was over. It was up to the district police officials to carry on from where we finished,’’ said Senthamarai Kannan, SP, Tiruchirapalli, who was part of Operation Cocoon.

‘‘Veerappan was a criminal and his widow thinks she can cash in on his notoriety. She cannot achieve anything,’’ he says about tomorrow’s gathering at the arid Moolakkadu burial ground.