The Hindu : Nagappa's body found

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 09, 2002

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Nagappa's body found

By A. Jayaram

The Karnataka Home Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, with Nagappa's son Preetham (right), and son-in-law, Kiran Patel, prior to receiving the sixth cassette from Veerappan in Bangalore on Sunday. — Photo: T.L. Prabhakar

BANGALORE DEC. 8.

In a shocking turn of events today, the former Karnataka Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader, H. Nagappa, was found dead in the forest today. He had been abducted by the forest brigand, Veerappan, on August 25 from his house in Kamagere village, in Kollegal taluk of Chamarajanagar district.

Earlier in the day, Veerappan had sent a cassette, his sixth, claiming that when he was "attacked" by the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (STF), he had asked Mr. Nagappa to flee.

The Karnataka Home Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, confirmed the death of the former Minister and the recovery of his body this evening. The Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, who is away in Delhi after campaigning for the Congress in Gujarat, is rushing here tomorrow.

Reports reaching here said the body was found in the Thobare Hills near Kuratti Hosoor village, adjacent to the Chengadi forest in the Ramapura police station limits.

Mr. Kharge warned of action against "whoever is responsible for the killing of Mr. Nagappa". He could not say whether Mr. Nagappa was shot dead or had died of his ailments. Only the post-mortem examination, to be conducted at Kamagere on Monday, would reveal the truth.

Mr. Kharge said the operations of the STF against Veerappan had been resumed in the forest.

H. Nagappa

Asked about Veerappan saying in the cassette that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, was to be blamed if anything happened to Mr. Nagappa, Mr. Kharge said: "We have to see if it is his hand or whether the incident has happened due to the operation by Tamil Nadu and it will be known only after the investigation."

The Government's Security Adviser and former State police chief, T. Srinivasulu, said Mr. Nagappa had died on Thursday and that the recorded cassette talked of an encounter with the Tamil Nadu STF that day.

With Tamil Nadu quickly denying that its STF personnel had an encounter with Veerappan — Mr. Kharge too held the same view — there are doubts over the encounter theory. It is believed that Mr. Nagappa was done to death by the brigand who had been setting deadlines for sending emissaries and also for payment.

Earlier, the news of the sixth cassette from Veerappan had raised hopes in Mr. Nagappa's village of a happy ending to the 106-day-old abduction crisis. Some family members of Mr. Nagappa were in the city and they rushed back to Kamagere after hearing about the cassette.

There were reports that Veerappan had abandoned Mr. Nagappa in the forest. In fact, Mr. Nagappa's son-in-law, Kiran Patel, had spoken in this vein to presspersons at Mr. Kharge's residence. Reports reaching here from Kamagere said that after the cassette was received, hundreds of villagers had entered the forests hoping to find Mr. Nagappa. Immediately, an STF party led by the Superintendent of Police, Arkesh, began combing operations.

On hearing the news that Mr. Nagappa's body had been found in the forest, about 500 people surrounded it and did not allow anyone connected with the Government to come near it. The Minister for Animal Husbandry, M. Mahadev, who is the Minister in-charge for Chamarajanagar district, was confronted by an angry mob. Tension gripped Kollegal taluk and police were on their guard.

Mr. Nagappa was the Minister of State for Agricultural Marketing in the J.H. Patel Ministry. He was defeated in the 1999 Assembly elections. Born on January 15, 1937 at Kamagere, he was a science graduate. He was first elected to the Assembly in 1967 on the Congress ticket from Hanur. He is survived by his wife, Parimala, son, Pritham and a daughter.

Mr. Nagappa's wife and children had made desperate attempts to secure his release and to persuade the Government to work for a negotiated release. They had met Ms. Jayalalithaa and also the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, appealing for help.

The distraught Government has declared a holiday for government offices, schools and colleges in the State on Monday as a mark of respect to Mr. Nagappa. He will be given a State funeral.

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