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Veerappan 'seeks' Presidential pardon

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE Dec. 30. The forest brigand, Veerappan, was willing to surrender if the President issued a letter of pardon to him, Ponnachi Mahadevaswamy of the Janata Dal(U) told presspersons on Monday, at a function to release a book, "Bali — The End"— based on the former Minister, H. Nagappa's kidnapping and death.

Quoting Veerappan, he said the outlaw would surrender before the Suttur Swami, Shivarathri Desikendra, the Minister for Defence, George Fernandes, and the Karnataka Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, as he did not trust anyone else, and that he did not want to languish in jail.

Narrating his visit to Veerappan's hideout on October 5 and October 13 and the conversation he had had with the brigand when he went in search of Nagappa, Mr. Mahadevaswamy said the Karnataka Government was not making any effort to bring to light the cause of Nagappa's death.

Nagappa was kidnapped on August 25 and he was found dead in the Chengadi forests on December 8.

Asked about reports that Nagappa could have died in an encounter between the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force and Veerappan, Mr. Mahadevaswamy said he was convinced that Veerappan had not killed Nagappa. "Veerappan was hopeful that the Tamil activist, Kolathur Mani, would be granted bail and released by the State Government to go as an emissary to negotiate Nagappa's release.

After having waited for 106 days, Veerappan would not have killed Nagappa just like that,'' he said.

He, however, declined to comment on the possible cause of Nagappa's death.

To a query whether he would help the authorities catch Veerappan, Mr. Mahadevaswamy said, "I ventured into the forest only to trace Nagappa. I have nothing to do with Veerappan. It (catching Veerappan) is the job of the authorities.''

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