The Hindu : Karnataka Govt. decides to send Kolathur Mani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 24, 2002

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Karnataka Govt. decides to send Kolathur Mani

By Our Special Correspondent

The Karnataka Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna (left) having a chat with K.H. Srinivasa and Narayanaswamy (right), both of the JD(S), and P.G.R. Sindhia (2nd left) at an all-party meeting in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE NOV. 23. The Karnataka Cabinet on Saturday decided to withdraw cases against Periyar Dravida Kazhagam activist, Kolathur Mani, and send him as emissary to the forest brigand, Veerappan, to negotiate the release of the former Minister, H. Nagappa.

Earlier in the day, an all-party meeting convened by the Government arrived at a consensus that Mani should be sent as the emissary as demanded by Veerappan in his latest cassette sent to the Government.

While three of the cases are pending in the Supreme Court, two are stated to be pending before the lower courts in Chamarajanagar and Mysore.

Veerappan has threatened to kill Mr. Nagappa, held captive by him in the Kollegal forests for over three months, if the State Government does not send Mani as emissary. He has given a 12-day ultimatum to the Government. However, the Government is confident that he will extend it on realising that it is sincere in its efforts to obtain the release of Mani.

The Cabinet, which met for nearly two hours soon after the conclusion of an all-party meeting that discussed the issue, decided to go by the advice of the Opposition leaders who said that under the prevailing circumstances, Mani would be the best bet to go as emissary since the brigand had been mentioning his name repeatedly. He had sought Mani as emissary in four of the five cassettes sent after Mr. Nagappa's abduction.

A consensus was reached at the all-party meeting on sending Mani. The Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Jagadish Shettar, and the President of the JD(U) State unit, C. Byre Gowda, MLA, said they were opposed to STF operations against Veerappan.

Briefing presspersons after the Cabinet meeting, the Minister for Information and Health and Family Welfare, Kagodu Thimmappa, and the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, D.B. Chandre Gowda, said the Government would direct the public prosecutors to move the courts concerned to withdraw the cases as per the provisions under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

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