Chennai: Conceding Forest brigand Veerappan's one of the two vital demands, the Tamil nadu government has set up a Rs 50-million corpus fund for the victims of ''Special Task Force (STF) atrocities'', even as official emissary R R Gopal is set to leave for his third mission to the forest to secure the release of Kannada superstar Rajkumar and three others.

Official sources here Sunday said the Home department passed the order evening Saturday for the setting up of the corpus fund after the finance department gave its clearance. The Karnataka government has also passed a similar order.

The brigand was also firm on his other demand that all the 121 Tamils, including 51 Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) detunes, be released from the Mysore jail unconditionally.

Meanwhile, Nakkeeran Associate editor A Kamaraj told UNI that Gopal would set out for the forest Monday only if he was given the copy of the order for the release of the 121 people. The Journalist-emissary was yet to get a copy of the Karnataka government order relating to the Rs 50 million corpus fund set up by it, he added.

Though Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had announced on Friday that Gopal would embark on his third mission Monday evening, sources here say it was directly linked to the release of the 121 people, said to be Veerappan sympathizers, hailing from Sathyamangalam forest area.

Gopal had earlier said the success of his mission depended on the responses of the two governments. It remained to be seen how Karnataka would respond to the brigand's demand of unconditional release of the 121 people.

Since the brigand had made it clear to the emissary during his second mission that there was no point in meeting him again without the two demands being conceded, Gopal would like to undertake the third and crucial mission only when a clear picture emerged on the release of the 121 people, the source said.

It may be recalled that Karunanidhi and his Karnataka counterpart S M Krishna who had studied the "clarifications" sought by Veerappan here on Friday, decided to set apart a total sum of Rs 100 million (Rs 50 million each) for providing compensation to victims of STF excesses.

The exact amount of compensation to be paid to the victims would be based on the recommendations of the Sadashiva commission, which was constituted to inquire into the alleged atrocities committed by the personnel of Special Task Force of the two states during their operations in 1992-93 to nab Veerappan and his gang members.

UNI

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