National

Who Was Behind The Killing Of H. Nagappa...

...the TN STF, its Karnataka counterpart or Veerappan himself?

Advertisement
Who Was Behind The Killing Of H. Nagappa...
info_icon
"Veerappan in the past has not killed anyone without a cogent reason. He has also done certain impulsive killings in a fit of rage, when he was provoked by police actions."

While the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (STF) and chief minister J. Jayalalitha have insisted from the start that it was Veerappan who killed Nagappa, Karnataka has avoided a straight answer to the question. "Only a thorough investigation will confirm how he (Nagappa) was killed," Karnataka dgp T. Madiyal told Outlook. Chief Minister S.M. Krishna does not even want to "speculate".

On Sunday, December 8, early bulletins by news agencies said, "Veerappan abandons Nagappa during encounter with STF." A PTI bulletin, quoting sources, said, "Following claims by forest bandit Veerappan that he has abandoned his hostage, JD(U) leader H. Nagappa, the Karnataka STF today intensified its search for Nagappa." The same afternoon, uni reported that Veerappan was injured in a shootout and had abandoned his hostage. "But Nagappa's whereabouts have not yet been confirmed, and STF teams were now scouting the forests for Nagappa, highly-placed sources said."

Advertisement

These reports were later proved incorrect when Veerappan's sixth tape was heard where he blamed the STF for Nagappa's death. But who spun the early stories to the media? Veerappan clearly does not have a media spokesperson.

Later, the same day, after Nagappa's body was found, TN was quick to distance itself from the incident. While the TN STF chief, Walter Dawaram, and Jayalalitha denied the state STF's involvement, deputy PM L.K. Advani too gave the TN STF a clean chit.

Some Tamil papers have even named a TN STF inspector—high on Veerappan's hit-list for having arrested his wife some years ago—as the one who led the alleged December 4 operations. The plan, according to STF sources, was to go for Veerappan even if it meant risking Nagappa's life.

Advertisement

The recovery of 27 spent bullet cases of AK-47 rifles only reinforce the theory that there was indeed an encounter—by whichever STF. The undue delay over officially announcing the post-mortem report also indicates Karnataka's unwillingness to blame TN and jeopardise future anti-Veerappan operations. The post-mortem, according to one of the doctor who conducted the autopsy, reveals that the bullet that killed Nagappa was fired from a distance of 15-20 feet and that Nagappa was not blind-folded, nor were his hands tied.

So who killed Nagappa? The mystery seems to only deepen with each passing day.

Tags
    Advertisement
    Advertisement
    Advertisement
    Advertisement
    Advertisement
    Advertisement