Bangalore: Karnataka High Court on September 3 ordered issue of notices to the Union of India, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and state Chief Minister S M Krishna and his counterpart in Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa on a writ petition praying for a direction to hand over to CBI the probe into the death of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader H Nagappa in the custody of forest brigand Veerappan in 2002.

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Justice N Kumar ordered issue of notice on the petition filed by Parimala Nagappa, wife of Nagappa, a former minister who met with a mysterious gruesome end in the captivity of Veerappan.

In her petition, Parimala Nagappa contended that from the contents of the cassettes sent by the forest brigand after kidnapping her husband, it was "clear" that Veerappan had no intention to kill him.

She also stated that the circumstances of the death showed that it was caused wrongfully and the circumstances were "unexplained and mysterious".

The notice was ordered to be issued to Karnataka Minister for Food Processing Raju Gowda also.

Parimala Nagappa submitted that police had registered a criminal case before the Additional Judicial Magistrate at Kollegal against 23 persons of whom 14 had been arrested and cases registered against them under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Karnataka Forests Act.

But, she contended, investigation was totally unsatisfactory and no efforts had been made to unearth the causes leading to the death of her husband.

She prayed for handing over all the materials, papers and evidence to the CBI for further investigation into the matter.

The Judge adjourned further hearing of the petition.

The Advocate General took notice on behalf of the state of Karnataka.

In a brutal end to his prolonged captivity, the body of Nagappa was found in the Chengadi forest area on Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border in December 2002.

Nagappa was kidnapped by Veerappan from his house at Kamagere village in Chamarajnagar district.

PTI