State Govt on the defensive, calls off combing operations

He told mediapersons after a meeting with top police officers that Gopal had also faxed a letter to the State Government on certain issues. “We have reacted favourably to the letter,” he said.

Refusing to divulge the contents of Gopal’s letter, the CM said: “The Government of Karnataka has done everything possible to enable Gopal to go on this highly sensitive and important mission.”

When asked as to when Gopal would leave for the mission, the CM said, “We were hoping he would leave tonight. But, due to the death of one of his reporters, he has gone to the place where the reporter died and is expected to return to Chennai this evening. Meanwhile, he is also waiting for a message from the other side (Veerappan).”

The Chief Minister also announced that a senior IPS Officer would be deputed to be stationed in Chennai.

The officer will be a nodal officer to coordinate with the efforts of the Governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in getting Dr Rajkumar and the three other hostages released safely. The officer will reach Chennai by tonight, he said.

Apart from this, a high-level committee comprising Home Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge and the Chief Minister himself will constantly monitor the developments both in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, he pointed out.

The Chief Minister said that the STF had called off its operations against the forest brigand since yesterday to faciliate the smooth release of the abducted matinee idol.

Krishna, who met top police officers in the morning, later told press persons that it was "unfortunate" that a section of the electronic media had been relaying that the operations had been initiated again.

Terming such reports as "canards and untrue", he said that such reports conveyed a wrong message.

He also appealed to the electronic media not to telecast the stray incidents of violence that had occurred on Monday. “This is in the interest of Dr Rajkumar and his family. We have to create normalcy to get him back safely,” he said.

Raghavendra Rajkumar, son of Dr Rajkumar, who was also present at the press conference, appealed to the media to be restrained in their reportage of events and not to blow anything out of proportion.

“He (Rajkumar) is not only my father. He is 72 years old now and he is like a father to you all. So, please cooperate with the Government in its efforts to get my father released,” he said, tears welling in his eyes.

Brigand’s demand
BANGALORE: Forty-eight hours after Veerappan abducted veteran actor Rajkumar from his farmhouse on the Karnataka-TN border, there has been no word on his demands. But popular actor-MP Ambarish today claimed the main demand of the bandit was unconditional release of 40 TADA detainees who have been jailed for being his accomplices.