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Coimbatore: R R Gopal, a Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) detenu and editor of Tamil magazine 'Nakkeeran' and three others were produced before a judicial magistrate court in connection with a case relating to the murder of a student, some five year ago in Sathyamangalam forest area, allegedly by Veerappan.

Gopal, who was brought from Chennai early on July 1, was produced before the fifth judicial magistrate Justin David, along with two magazine reporters, Shivasubramanian and Krishna Kumar, who were on conditional bail.

Another accused in the case, Sathyamurthi of Tamil Nadu Liberation Army (TNLA), was also produced, amidst tight security.

The body of the student, Bhaktavatchalam, who had gone to meet Veerappan in the pretext of taking interview, was found in Sathymangalam forest in 1998.

Besides these four, case was also registered against Veerappan as main accused, Sethukuli Govindan, Chandra Gounder and two others.

As requested, the magistrate permitted Gopal and Shivasubramanian to meet their relatives and counsels for few minutes.

While boarding the police vehicle, Gopal said that he would legally fight the case, which was foisted against him and his colleagues.

PTI