Date:20/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/20/stories/2007052005230400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

`CBI probe will reveal the truth'

Special Correspondent

`It is improper to attribute any political motive to the decision'

BANGALORE: Minister for Kannada and Culture H.S. Mahadeva Prasad has defended the Cabinet decision to seek a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the killing of the former Minister H. Nagappa while he was being held hostage by the brigand Veerappan in 2002 and said it was improper to attribute any political motive to the decision.

He told presspersons here on Saturday that the Government was of the view that only a CBI inquiry would reveal who killed Nagappa. The former Minister's family and the people of the State wanted the truth to come out.

The R.G. Vaidyanathan Commission of Inquiry, in its report, recommended that the Government seek a CBI inquiry as the case involved two States: Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Asked about the efficacy of the CBI probe five years after the incident when Veerappan and his associates had been killed in an encounter, he said the inquiry would bring out the truth as to who killed Nagappa.

The brigand kidnapped Nagappa on August 25, 2002 from his Hanur farmhouse near Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district and his body was found in the M.M. Hills area on December 8, 2002.

He said the Government has decided to dismiss from service Police Inspector Shashikumar, who did not stop and check the bus in which the abducted Nagappa was being taken by Veerappan and his gang. As recommended b the Vaidyanathan Commission, a monitoring cell was being set up in the Intelligence wing.

The Commission also suggested that the Government pay compensation to the family of Nagappa.