New Delhi: With Verappan continuing to be elusive, the Centre on January 2 agreed to
step in and offered whatever needed in a fortnight to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to
nab the forest brigand and these could include despatch of the elite National
Security Guards (NSG).
"We discussed the joint strategy, plan of action and the level of co-operation. The
Centre has assured to provide whatever needed within 15 days," Tamil Nadu Special
Task Force (STF) chief Natarajan told reporters after a nearly two-hour long co-
ordination committee meeting at the North Block in Delhi.
Chaired by special secretary (Home) Ashok Bhandari, the meeting was attended, among
others, by senior police officials from both states, representative officials from
Army and Air Force and Karnataka STF chief Jyoti Prakash Mirji.
The meeting came a day after Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna, who is under
pressure following the death of Janata Dal –United (JD-U) leader H Nagappa, declared
that their New Year resolve was "To end the menace of the bandit" who carries a
reward of Rs five crore on his head.
Though the STF chiefs refused to divulge what sort of assistance they sought from
the Centre, sources said they demanded the NSG forces, trained in carrying out
operations in thick forests and Air Force choppers to keep track of the bandit,
whose latest hostage Nagappa was killed in mysterious circumstances.
Natarajan said that the STFs spelt out the difficulties faced by them in nabbing the
outlaw and sought assistance from other agencies in their task.
Dismissing suggestions that there was lack of co-ordination between both the states,
he said, "There is very good co-ordination at the ground level. We are confident
that we will be able to catch him".
Asked whether any deadline have been set by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to achieve the
task, Natarajan said, "Our intention is to catch him as fast as possible".
Karnataka has already requested the Centre to provide sophisticated weapons
including deployment of forces to hunt the dreaded poacher-smuggler, who has
resorted to abduction of prominent persons in recent years.
Krishna had stated on January 1, "We have to take tough decisions on Veerappan. We
have to go all out to end the menace which has brought a blot on the otherwise good
image of the state".
The elusive brigand had sometime back kidnapped Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar who
was set free after over a 100 days of captivity.
PTI
