Rajkumar's release 'anytime now'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, OCT. 15. Efforts to secure the release of the Kannada actor, Mr. Rajkumar, and two of his relatives held hostage by the forest brigand Veerappan for the last 77 days, appear headed for the much-prized moment, with some definitive word on their freedom expected late tonight.

This impression gained ground with some definitive word reaching here this morning from both the official emissary, Mr. R. R. Gopal, and the Tamils Nationalist Movement (TNM) leader, Mr. P. Nedumaran, who is now part of the expanded team of mediators. A fleet of cars has already been arranged at Erode, to bring back the hostages.

The Nakkeeran associate editor, Mr. A. Kamaraj, when contacted, said he had received a call today from the Sathyamangalam forest, adding, a clear picture on the on- going negotiations between the team and the brigand would emerge by tonight.

The TNM general secretary, Mr. K. Parandaman, in a statement here said a message had been received from Mr. Nedumaran this morning saying the talks were going on smoothly, adding, ``some good news is expected anytime now''. Mr. Nedumaran had also expressed the hope that the team of emissaries, which included two human rights activists, Prof. Kalyani and Mr. Sukumaran, would return with the hostages, the statement said.

Mr.Rajkumar and three others were abducted by Veerappan and his associates on July 30 from his farm house at Gajanur in Tamil Nadu's Erode district.

The Nakkeeran editor, Mr. Gopal, was chosen as the official emissary of both the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Governments to negotiate with Veerappan, based on the journalist's 1997 record in helping to free nine Karnataka forest department officials. But, the four missions Mr. Gopal undertook this time were much more complex.

In a strange twist to the abduction drama, one of the hostages, an assistant film director, Mr. Nagappa Maradagi, ``escaped'' from Veerappan's clutches on September 28. This came as a big setback to Mr. Gopal's efforts, amidst the Supreme Court indefinitely staying the release process of 51 TADA detenus from Karnataka and five Tamil ultras from Tamil Nadu. Veerappan has been demanding the release of the TADA detenus.

Subsequently, on the fifth forest mission, the emissary team was expanded to include the pro-LTTE leader, Mr.Nedumaran and two other human rights activists. This has already raised concerns at the banned Sri Lankan Tamil militant outfit, LTTE, ``remote- controlling'' the kidnap drama.

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