Veerappan frees Rajkumar's son-in-law

By Our Tamil Nadu Bureau

CHENNAI, OCT. 16. In yet another dramatic turn to the Veerappan- triggered 78-day-old hostage crisis, the brigand tonight released the Kannada thespian Mr. Rajkumar's son-in-law, Mr. S.A. Govindaraju, even as the situation with regard to the actor himself and the other hostage, Mr. Nagesh, remains unknown.

The Additional Director General of Police (Special Operations), Mr. A.X. Alexander, said late tonight that Mr. Govindaraju was freed at the periphery of the Sathyamangalam forest around 7 p.m. The released hostage is proceeding to Bangalore, according to him.

Mr. Govindaraju was one of the four who had been kidnapped on July 30 from the actor's Doddagajanur farmhouse in Erode district. The others were Mr. Nagesh, another relative of Mr. Rajkumar, and Mr. Nagappa Maradagi, a film assistant director, who escaped on September 28 from the clutches of the brigand.

This sudden development, amid conflicting reports on the release of the hostages, apparently points to a hitch in the negotiations process, undertaken by the team of emissaries led by the Nakkeeran Editor, Mr. R.R. Gopal, and including the Tamil Nationalist Movement (TNM) leader, Mr. P. Nedumaran.

Even as the emissaries' team is returning to Chennai tomorrow, the jerky turn to the mediation was unexpected as only a few hours earlier, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, had said that the remaining three hostages were likely to return either later today or tomorrow.

In a positive indication here this evening, Mr. Karunanidhi, replying to reporters' queries on reports on the release of Mr. Rajkumar and the other hostages, said, ``There is expectation that they will return either today or tomorrow.''

``I have nothing more to add,'' he said, while parrying another question on whether Mr. Rajkumar will arrive in Chennai or proceed to Bangalore. Mr. Karunanidhi's remarks assumed significance as they came amidst continuing doubts about reports of the release of the hostages last night.

However, police sources in Sathyamangalam continued to maintain today that the release of the hostages took place last night, though their whereabouts were unknown to them.

Nedumaran's message

Meanwhile, Mr. P. Nedumaran, who joined Mr. Gopal this time on his fifth forest mission, is understood to have sent a message to the Chief Minister today.

Earlier in the day, the Nakkeeran termed the reports on the release of the three hostages last night as ``rumours''. The magazine in a statement here said that negotiations to secure the release of the hostages were continuing with Veerappan.

Interestingly, the inherent difficulty in any official confirmation from the police side on the actual release of the hostages came to light when officials at the STF's Bannari camp and in Erode said that they were not doing any vehicle checks. They have been told to ``keep the roads surveillance-free'' to avert any ``hindrance'' to the Government emissary.

``We are not watching who is going in and who is coming out of the forests,'' police sources said, adding, unless there was a specific instruction from the Government to look for any particular person, they were confined to their camps.

Nonetheless, these sources did not rule out the possibility of Mr. Rajkumar and others having been taken to a nearby hospital for a medical check-up, as they had been held captive by the brigand for over two months. In fact, following the reports on Mr. Rajkumar's release, some police personnel are believed to have made enquiries in major hospitals in places such as Erode and Coimbatore, to check for the freed hostages' possible arrival there.

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