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FORMER MINISTER NAGAPPA PRESUMED KILLED BY FOREST BRIGAND VEERAPPAN; ANALYSTS BELIEVE IT HAS A SRILANKAN LTTE CONNECTION
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
The mutilated body of Nagappa was found after both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka state governments refused to release two pro-LTTE politicians who were spending jail terms in India’s Tamil Nadu state. Nagappa, a former Minister in India’s Karnataka State was abducted in August , by Veerappan who is known by the single name but whose full name is Koose Munisamy Veerappan. Agency reports said Nagappa’s body was found Sunday ( December 8, 2002) in the Chengdi Forests immediately after the former minister’s family received an audio cassette containing a message by the forest brigand that Nagappa was no longer with him.
Karnataka newspapers said the state government has decided to give a state funeral to the dead leader at his native town of Kamagere. All government offices and courts will be closed as mark of respect for the 63-year old leader of the Kannada people on Monday Veerappan has been reigning as a Robin Hood type outlaw befriending tribal and unlettered people in adjacent villages in the nearly 3900 square mile expanse of a forest bordering both the Southern Indian states of Karnataka and his native Tamil Nadu. (Please see map) According to state records Veerappan has killed more than 130 forest rangers and police officers, destroyed millions of dollars worth of sandalwood trees for smuggling and killed more than thousands of elephants for ivory during his 30 year long undeclared war against authorities. When regular law and order authorities were unable to nab him the two states formed a special task force spending millions of dollars to arrest him. The police believe two years ago Veerappan abducted the very popular Kannada film star Rajkumar and kept him in his captivity for 108 days not only for a ransom but also to publicize his pro-Tamil nationalist sentiments sponsored by the Sri Lankan terrorist group the LTTE. In the Nagappa abduction Veerappan sent five audio tape messages promising to negotiate the former Kannada Ministers release on the condition of the release of two Tamil Nadu politicians who have been jailed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) for uttering pro-LTTE sentiments. The Tamil Nadu government and the Karnataka government rejected the demand.
Anita Pratap, an Indian journalist who once kept a close relationship with Velupillai Prabhakaran visiting Vanni and wrote the book, Island of Blood said, “But one thing that has happened of very late that I have picked up is that there is growing concern in India and in Tamil Nadu about some kind of linkage developing in Tamil Nadu between LTTE, the Naxalites and Veerappan. This combination has aroused a certain degree of concern. Sri lanka has this problem to battle with. And let them do it and if it spills on our shores we have to take very firm action.” Commenting on the conflict between India and Prabhakaran Anita Prathap said, “As far as Eelam is concerned, I think Prabhakaran was bang on when he said you have to fight India eventually because India would not allow the creation of a separate Tamil state in Sri lanka because that would have direct repercussion in Tamil Nadu . One of the oldest secessionist movements in India began in 1952. So, India would be concerned and would frown upon a separate state because it would immediately give impetus to secessionist tendencies in Tamil Nadu.” News Insight.Net, an Indian Public Affairs internet magazine edited by senior Indian journalist N.V. Subramanian said, “But Veerappan is not a forest brigand or sandalwood smuggler. He was those years ago. Now, he is the LTTE’s cat’s paw. There was some evidence for this five years ago but more came in the 108-day captivity and release of Karnataka matinee idol Rajkumar two years ago. There is still more against the LTTE and its support groups in Tamil Nadu in the daring abduction of Nagappa on 25 August. The LTTE link runs like a thread through Veerappan’s past five years of terror in a swath of forest and hill country straddling Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and bits of Kerala. But neither the Union government nor the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments are willing to fully appreciate the dangers of this. “Veerappan comes from Kolathur. T. S. Mani, a known LTTE supporter from Kolathur, is reported to have introduced the forest killer to the leadership of the pro-LTTE Tamil Nadu-based Tamil Nation Retrieval Troops (TNRT) and its military wing, the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army (TNLA), and its social wing, the Tamil Nadu Liberation Force (TNLF). “Cadres of these three organizations fought alongside the LTTE against Sri Lankan forces and TNRT men were also personally trained by LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran’s intelligence chief, Pottu Amman. TNRT, TNLA and Veerappan’s gang are known to have attacked Vellithirippur police station in Erode district in Tamil Nadu in December 1998 and looted weapons and ammunitions. 
“It is harder to date Veerappan’s links with the separatist Tamil Nationalist Movement of P.Nedunmaran but they grew in the years that Veerappan became close to TNRT, TNLA and TNLF. Nedumaran has never hidden his sympathies for the LTTE. Indian intelligence agencies have a considerable dossier on him and he is one of the better-known alleged fund-raisers for the Tamil terrorist group. J. Jayalalitha slapped POTA on Nedunmaran a little after arresting MDMK leader Vaiko under the same anti-terrorist law. Nedumaran is in jail.
“Nedumaran’s link with Veerappan and TNLA and TNRT surfaced during the Rajkumar kidnap drama. Apparently, Veerappan was in charge of the whole operation. But in fact, it had been masterminded by TNRT and TNLA with Nedumaran giving it an aboveground political face. “It has already been reported that the real negotiations were being conducted by TNLA and TNRT in the forest and Nedumaran in Chennai with Veerappan acting as a front. Certain analysts say that the Rajkumar kidnapping was meant to get publicity for these Tamil nationalist/ separatist groups and more space for them in Tamil Nadu’s political discourse. This is only partly true. “Five TNRT and TNLA extremists had been caught for the Vellithirippur police station attack. One of Veerappan’s first demands in exchange for Rajkumar’s freedom was release of these men charged under the National Security Act. His other demands like moving the Cauvery waters dispute to the International Court of Justice were not laughable but a cover to push TNRT and LTTE agenda for a greater Tamil Nadu. “The Supreme Court intervened and for one reason or another the five jailed Tamil extremists could not be released. But Rajkumar was still in custody. Nedumaran and the Tamil extremist groups made one last attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Nedumaran sought to make himself a negotiator in the crisis, get Rajkumar back, and earn the goodwill of the people in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and use it to fuel the Tamil nationalist/ separatist cause. Nedumaran claims Veerappan asked him to be the emissary to seek Rajkumar’s release. It would do him no credit to tell that he was pushing for the job himself. “But officials will tell you that Veerappan did not have the vaguest idea to seek Nedumaran’s help. Nedumaran got one of the Vellithiruppoor attackers in jail to put up his name with Veerappan who happily obliged. Mani and another LTTE sympathiser, G.Sukumaran, accompanied Nedumaran into the forest. So Rajkumar’s kidnapping and release was an LTTE-TNRT-Nedumaran show from beginning to end. “The Nagappa abduction is no different, although there are changes in the detail. The biggest is that Nedumaran is in jail and cannot be emissary. Indeed, there is mounting suspicion that Nagappa was kidnapped to spring Nedumaran from jail. Karnataka police is getting more and more circumstantial evidence to support this theory. “Police officials say that Veerappan’s gang has been smashed over the years by relentless STF operations and that he has only two hardcore members left. But none of the eight persons who assisted Veerappan in kidnapping Nagappa were locals or of the Soliga tribe that is supposed to be sympathetic to him. Officials say they belong to the second rung of the TNLF. What was the provocation now for Veerappan to kidnap Nagappa if you take away the Nedumaran angle? “Why would Veerappan take such a chance on his own with just two hardcore men to back him? “Conclusion: It could not have been his operation. “It has to be the TNRT and TNLF combining its agenda of releasing its five jailed leaders with that of Nedumaran’s. Vaiko will be free soon because he is an ally of the Union government. Nedumaran will have a harder time of it because Jayalalitha will direct her ire against Vaiko’s release on him. She is also uncommonly serious about punishing hardcore LTTE supporters in the state. And Nedumaran has no powerful backers in Delhi like Vaiko has. Union defense minister George Fernandes knows Nedumaran, but Fernandes is unlikely to go out on a limb to save him. Who would Nedumaran turn to for help but to his Tamil extremist friends and their pawn, Veerappan, with a nudge and wink from Prabhakaran. “Tracking down Veerappan is not enough. The Indian government is dealing with bigger enemies within. TNRT and its two other wings must be declared terrorist organisations and its cadres arrested under PoTA. And the Centre must not look upon Nedumaran indulgently because Jayalalithaa has jailed him. Central intelligence agencies have enough on him to put him away for years. That option must be exercised.” (EOM) (02/12/09 go2lanka.com) |
