Body of Nagappa found

The body of former Karnataka minister Hannur Nagappa has been found, but India's most wanted bandit, Veerappan, swears that his kidnap victim of 106 days was not killed by him.

The 62-year-old diabetic's body was found late evening in the Chengadi hill forest region of the Bargur-Sathyamangalam forest range in a "highly decomposed state" by Karnataka's Special Task Force, the state government confirmed late last night.

"It is a sad moment. We had expected the safe release of Nagappa. The body of Nagappa has been found. It is being sent for post mortem. We have told the special task force (STF) to get Veerappan dead or alive. The operations have already begun," Karnataka Home Minister, Mallikarjuna Kharge announced after a high-level meeting with police officials.

Karnataka's top brass went into a tizzy yesterday morning after Veerappan's sixth cassette was received, tied to a tree in Nagappa's house at Kamagere in Hanur, 135 km from the state capital that said his hostage was injured and that he had abandoned his captive after police fired at his gang.

"Nagappa may be dead, but I swear by God I did not kill him. He was killed in an encounter with the Tamil Nadu police on Thursday morning," Veerappan was quoted as saying in the tape by a top police official on condition of anonymity.

"There is some evidence of bullet marks on Nagappa's body. But, we will get the details only after the postmortem is conducted," the official told Gulf News.

But Tamil Nadu have flatly denied that any of their STF units entered the Karnataka side of the forest that straddles the three states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Veerappan kidnapped Nagappa, a junior agriculture minister in the Janata Dal government that ruled Karnataka until 1999, on August 25 from Kamagere, almost two years after he had kidnapped Kannada movie icon, Rajkumar.

The matinee idol, the John Wayne of Indian cinema, was released from southern India's largest forest after 108 days in captivity.

Nagappa's death comes at a crucial juncture in the 106 day kidnap episode. Veerappan's wish of getting Kolathur Mani, a sympathiser of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, released from a Karnataka prison, was on the verge of being fulfilled in the coming week.

Mani's bail application in four of the five cases had been cleared by the courts after Karnataka decided not to oppose it. The government's move not to oppose bail for Mani came after a green signal from the Janata Dal (United) and the Janata Dal (Secular) at an all-party meeting.

The Karnataka government had came under intense pressure from the major caste group of Lingayats, a politically powerful community to which Nagappa belongs, to stop the STF operations at the initial stage.

"The political battle lines will be drawn tomorrow," a senior minister said on condition of anonymity. Schools and colleges have been closed today as the government apprehends tension.