Tuesday, October 13, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
POLITICS: India Ready to Send Army after Forest Brigand
Ranjit Devraj
- The Indian federal government pledged in Parliament, Monday, to call in the army to apprehend a forest brigand believed responsible for the death of H Nagappa, a former minister in southern Karnataka state that he kidnapped and dragged away into the jungles three months ago.
After the discovery of H. Nagappa’s body on the weekend drew heated debates in parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said the central government was prepared to provide every possible support – including helicopters and the army’ services – to governments in southern Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states trying to apprehend Veerappan, the country’s most wanted man.
So far, the central government has studiously kept out of the hunt for Veerappan since law and order is a provincial subject.
It has preferred to leave things to the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments, which have been endlessly squabbling over several common issues starting with the sharing of the waters of the river Cauvery.
Through a message, taped on an audio cassette, Veerappan has disowned responsibility for the Nagappa’s death. He said the former minister died as a result of injuries sustained during a firefight between his men and a police party from Tamil Nadu state in the thick jungles that straddle the border between the two states.
Tamil Nadu’s chief minister Jayaraman Jayalalithaa has declared to television reporters in Chennai city that policemen from her state had nothing to do with Nagappa’s death.
Nevertheless, Veerappan’s allegations have sparked tensions between ethnic Kannadigas who live in Karnataka and Tamils whose homeland is Tamil Nadu. Police have had to order an alert in Bangalore city, the capital of Karnataka which has a large population of Tamils.
Offices and educational institution were ordered closed on Monday as additional precaution for the funeral of Nagappa attended by thousands of his supporters who, according to news reports from Bangalore, clashed with police and set aflame several vehicles.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been careful not to take sides in the disputes between the two states, which failed to cooperate on a strategy to handle the Nagappa kidnapping.
Karnataka’s chief minister S M Krishna withdrew his policemen from the jungles and moved to get bail for one of Veerappan’s arrested associates to partially fulfill conditions laid down by the brigand for the safe, negotiated return of Nagappa.
But this approach did not please Tamil Nadu’s chief minister Jayalalithaa, whose police force appears to have crossed the heavily forested state border into Karnataka in independent efforts to catch Veerappan, resulting in the death of the hostage.
Two years ago, Veerappan released unharmed popular movie star Rajkumar after holding him captive in the jungles for 108 days, but after collecting an undisclosed ransom from the Karnataka government.
Jayalalithaa later alleged publicly that the ransom money amounted to 60 million dollars and blamed Krishna’s government for ”bureaucratic and administrative wrangling” resulting in the inability to apprehend Veerappan.
After the kidnapping of Nagappa, Jayalalithaa declared that her police would track down Veerappan no matter what the Karnataka government did.
Known by his trademark handlebar moustache, Veerappan, along with his men, are believed to have facilitated the large-scale smuggling of millions of dollars worth of sandalwood and ivory enriching politicians and influential people in the process.
According to officials between the years 1991 and 1996, action by a special task force (STF) constituted for the purpose had resulted in the decimation of Veerappan’s gang from about 150 men to a core group of five members. At one point, he called for an amnesty that was rejected.
In 2000 Veerappan and the core group pulled off the kidnapping of Rajkumar, after whose release a massive combing operation involving paramilitary troops was sent into the jungles to capture him.
The search fizzled out and Veerappan proved once again that he was a step ahead of the troops by kidnapping Nagappa under their very noses.
Observers have said that in another setting Veerappan may have been valued for his immense skill in jungle survival techniques, living as he does off the land and covering his tracks well in the 16,000 acres of forest that is his home.
Of the 130 people Veerappan is said to have killed over the years, 40 were men in uniform including senior officers sent into the jungles after him with helicopters hovering overhead.
Speaking to reporters in Delhi on Monday, former prime minister Deve Gowda, who has also served Karnataka’s chief minister, said Veerappan has resisted capture through a network of informers who tipped him off on police movements against him.
But rival parochialism between politicians from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu has also been a factor in Veerappan’s survival kit.
An ethnic Tamil, Veerappan has cleverly exploited the divide to his advantage and succeeded in getting police from the two states to accuse each other of secretly supporting him and ensuring that he and his rag-tag band evade capture for more than a decade now.
But this time after Nagappa’s death, the forces of the two states may finally be forced to cooperate under central supervision to finally kill or capture Veerappan.
”Efforts should be made to set up a joint front consisting of the centre and state governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to get the forest brigand and end the difficulties which have kept Veerappan our of the reach of police,” said Mahajan in Parliament.
”I hope Nagappa will be his (Veerappan’s) last victim and that now he will himself be the victim – that will be the real tribute to Nagappa,” the senior cabinet minister added.
Print
|
POLITICS: India Ready to Send Army after Forest Brigand
Ranjit Devraj
- The Indian federal government pledged in Parliament, Monday, to call in the army to apprehend a forest brigand believed responsible for the death of H Nagappa, a former minister in southern Karnataka state that he kidnapped and dragged away into the jungles three months ago.
(more…)
Print
|
POLITICS: India Ready to Send Army after Forest Brigand
Ranjit Devraj
- The Indian federal government pledged in Parliament, Monday, to call in the army to apprehend a forest brigand believed responsible for the death of H Nagappa, a former minister in southern Karnataka state that he kidnapped and dragged away into the jungles three months ago.
(more…)
Print
|
POLITICS: India Ready to Send Army after Forest Brigand
Ranjit Devraj
- The Indian federal government pledged in Parliament, Monday, to call in the army to apprehend a forest brigand believed responsible for the death of H Nagappa, a former minister in southern Karnataka state that he kidnapped and dragged away into the jungles three months ago.
(more…)
Print
|
POLITICS: India Ready to Send Army after Forest Brigand
Ranjit Devraj
- The Indian federal government pledged in Parliament, Monday, to call in the army to apprehend a forest brigand believed responsible for the death of H Nagappa, a former minister in southern Karnataka state that he kidnapped and dragged away into the jungles three months ago.
(more…)
Print
|
