Sathyamangalam: Dismissing projections of the slain forest brigand Veerappan as a committed Tamil extremist, the Special Task Force (STF) chief today (Oct 26, 2004) indicated that internal rivalry in his gang could have given the Force the leeway it needed in its efforts to track him down.

Describing the sandalwood smuggler as an "extortionist", he also ruled out any retaliation from the gangs that backed Veerappan in his last years in the forests to avenge his killing. There have been reports that some organisation has issued letters threatening to blast railway stations and Government property after Veerappan's killing.

STF Chief K Vijayakumar, an ADGP who has now been promoted as DGP following last week's success, has also brushed aside various theories that Veerappan committed suicide and was not shot dead by the Force and that he was killed somewhere else and brought dead to the place of "encounter".

He said in an interview to sources at STF's base camp in Sathyamangalam, that Veerappan had spoken "contemptuously and dismissively" about Tamil Viduthalai Iyakkam (Tamil Liberation Force), a group of extremists, whose support he had taken during the days of kidnapping of Kannada film icon Rajkumar four years ago.

"We gathered information that Veerappan never believed his close lieutenant Sethukuli Govindan and used to speak contemptuously and dismissively about Sethumani of the TLA (the two were killed along with Veerappan)," the top STF official said.