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LAW:
RAJKUMAR CASE
Lost
In The Woods
The Supreme
Court stops the TADA detenus' release, bringing moves to free Rajkumar
to a dead end
By
Stephen David
On
Tuesday, November 7, a few hours before the Supreme Court upbraided both
the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments in the Rajkumar kidnap saga,
the filmstar's family in Bangalore's Rajmahalvilas area had an unexpected
visitor: Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna. It is not clear if Krishna
had any indication of the impending verdict from the apex court. But during
the hour-long meeting, instead of commiserating with the family whose
agony has stretched to over 100 days, Krishna blamed them for everything
that went wrong. "The Government had told you to always inform us
about his movements because he was on Veerappan's hit list but that was
not done," he said to the stunned family members who included the
film star's wife Parvathamma and his three sons.
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| Chief
Ministers Krishna and Karunanidhi are groping for a way out |
The chief
minister's bitterness is understandable. With the apex court pulling up
both states (see box) while quashing the orders of the TADA judges of
Mysore and Chennai to release 56 detenus as demanded by Veerappan in exchange
for the release of Rajkumar, the two state governments have virtually
reached a dead end. "We cannot go against the Supreme Court. And
there is no scope for an appeal," was Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.
Karunanidhi's reaction. "We have to explore other non-judicial channels
to get Rajkumar released," said a close Krishna aide.
But the
alternatives, limited to begin with, are becoming more so by the day.
Top Tamil leader P. Nedumaran who was all set to go to the jungles last
Tuesday for his sixth round of negotiations with Veerappan changed his
mind after Tamil Maanila Congress leader S. Balakrishnan accused him of
being an "anti-national". Nedumaran's outfit, the Tamil Nationalist
Movement (TNM) is alleged to have links with the LTTE. The other emissaries,
R.R. Gopal, Sukumaran and Kalyani, now say they will not go into the forest
without Nedumaran. Sukumaran told india today that the team was getting
ready for its second mission when Balakrishnan played spoilsport. "We
were confident of securing the release of Rajkumar this time, but now
with Nedumaran deciding not to go to the forests, we cannot venture out."
Rajkumar's
sons Shiv Rajkumar and Raghavendra Rajkumar, however, did not give up
hope. On November 8, they rushed to Chennai to appeal to Nedumaran to
reconsider his decision. After a 30-minute discussion with the TNM leader,
they told waiting reporters that Nedumaran had promised to consider their
request. "We appeal to everyone not to politicise the matter. Our
father has been in captivity for more than 100 days. Any more delay in
getting him released will be dangerous. We hope that Nedumaran will again
go to the forests and return with our father," they said.
If Nedumaran
does not oblige, it leaves the thespian's family with only one option:
explore independent avenues to get some Tamil-friendly contacts to establish
links with Veerappan. Among others who are said to be helping in the mission
to secure Rajkumar's release are Tamil superstar Rajnikanth, originally
a native of Bangalore, some Tamil groups based in Bangalore and some leaders
of the Dravida Kazhagam in Salem.
"We
will tap whatever sources we can to get our father back," says Raghavendra.
The family, along with that of another hostage, Nagesh, is clear that
at this point there is very little the governments can do except launch
a commando operation.
Fight
to the Finish: Neither state Government, however, is even thinking
of a rescue operation for the time being. For two reasons. One, they have
no clue how to proceed; secondly and more importantly, any rescue operation
that involves the use of force may well put the actor's life in jeopardy.
One of the pre-requisites of a rescue operation is to get tacit support
from the locals. But in this case, the police and intelligence agencies
from both states have little cooperation from the villagers of the 250
hamlets and villages in the 6,000 sq km area on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu
border where Veerappan operates. As former raw secretary M. Narasimhan
points out, "For such rescue operations, the role of intelligence
agencies is the key otherwise you will be just shooting in the dark."
Obviously,
the lack of cooperation from locals makes intelligence gathering an uphill
task. Hopes that the army would be called in to break the deadlock have
also been scotched by Defence Minister George Fernandes, who on a visit
to Bangalore made it clear that the army would not be involved in any
rescue operation, though officials of the Union Home Ministry say they
would be willing to help out if asked by either state.
As for 76-year-old
Abdul Kareem, father of police inspector Shakeel Ahmed who was slain by
Veerappan in August 1992, whose August 21 petition to the Supreme Court
resulted in the latest rap on the knuckles of the two governments, it
is a fight to the finish. "I can empathise with the Rajkumar family
but I am fighting for justice for the victims of Veerappan's atrocities."
If Kareem
wins, both the governments lose. As do Veerappan's hostages, and their
families. "We are the ones caught in the cross-fire," says Poornima,
Rajkumar's daughter. "It's a catch-22 situation for us." Very
much like it is for both the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments.
-with
Arun Ram in Chennai
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