TN govt revokes NSA detention order against four extremists

Of the four, Ponnivalavan belongs to TNLA, and Sathyamurthy, Manikandan and Muthukumar are members of TNRT, official sources said.

Sathyamurthy, Manikandan and Muthukumar were yesterday shifted from a prison in Tiruchirapalli to a jail in Erode district where Veerappan is holding Rajkumar and three others captives since their abduction two weeks ago.

Venkatesan, the fifth man whose release Veerappan has demanded, is an undertrial in a TADA case and a separate process is required for his release, they said.

The Tamil Nadu government has hinted at simultaneous release of prisoners and hostages.

In Bangalore, Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna told reporters that quot;things are moving in the direction as we have planned and it is only a question of time.quot;

Asked about objections filed in a Mysore court against the release of 51 TADA detenus suspected to be associates of Veerappan, he said there may not be any problem regarding dropping of TADA charges.

The objections filed by the father of a police inspector killed by Veerappan may come up for hearing at Mysore District and Sessions Court tomorrow.

Krishna said Gopal was likely to leave for the jungles tomorrow. Gopal had returned to Chennai last week after a first round of negotiations with Veerappan and brought with him a fresh set of demands from Veerappan, which included the release of the Tamil extremists and referring of the Cauvery water-sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to the International Court of Justice at the Hague.