Veerappan’s new demands rejected

BANGALORE, November 2: Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel today rejected the second round of demands sent by fugitive Veerappan. The forest...

BANGALORE, November 2: Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel today rejected the second round of demands sent by fugitive Veerappan. The forest brigand on Saturday had placed two fresh demands before the Governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for his surrender.

In an audio cassette to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, he demanded the immediate release of Madaiah, his brother from Erode jail. Madaiah has been lodged in the jail on charges of killing Tamil Nadu RFO, Chidambaram.In the cassette, Veerappan demanded Madaiah be released into the jungles. Veerappan, along with all his gang-members would later surrender to the police, and each member be given Rs 50 lakh in cash.

The Karnataka government today began the exercise of working out modalities in coordination with Tamil Nadu on the joint operations to be launched against Veerappan and his gang.

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Speaking to reporters here, Patel, said a team of top police officials of the state led by DGP, T Srinivasalu, have rushed to Chennai for discussion with Tamil Nadu authorities on the operations.

He said both the governments would not hesitate to seek the help of central forces, if need arose.

Patel, who heard the the audio cassette sent by Veerappan, rejected outright the fresh demands set by the bandit for his surrender, including payment of Rs 50 lakh to each of his associates who would be surrendering with him.Patel said the responsibility for deciding on the operations and other related issues was entirely left to the decisions of his Tamil Nadu counterpart, M Karunanidhi, and added, “We don’t want to meddle with his plans.”

He ruled out any change of the state Special Task Force (STF) commander at present, saying there was no need for such move.

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He said if need arose, former STF chief, Shankar Bidar would be asked to head the operations.

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