M A I N   N E W S

TN drops charges against militants

CHENNAI, Aug 15 (PTI) — Moving quickly to meet a major demand by forest brigand Veerappan for the release of Kannada film icon Rajkumar and three others the Tamil Nadu Government today revoked the detention of four Tamil extremists under the National Security Act even as journalist-emissary R. R. Gopal readied to leave for his second round of negotiations with the outlaw.

The revocation of the detention of three members of Tamil National Retrieval Troops and one of Tamil Nadu Liberation Army makes them eligible for bail from trial courts where they are facing various cases.

Of the four, Ponnivalavan belongs to TNLA and Sathyamurthy, Manikandan and Muthukumar are members of TNRT, official sources here said.

Sathyamurthy, Manikandan and Muthukumar were yesterday shifted from a prison in Tiruchirapalli to a jail in Erode district where Veerappan is holding Rajkumar and three others hostage since their abduction two weeks ago.

Venkatesan, the fifth man whose release Veerappan wants, is an undertrial in a TADA case and a separate process is required for his release.

The Tamil Nadu Government has hinted at simultaneous release of prisoners and hostages.

In Bangalore, Karnataka Chief Minister S. M. Krishna told reporters that “things are moving in the direction as we have planned and it is only a question of time.”

Asked about objections filed in a Mysore court to the release of 51 TADA detenus suspected to be associates of Veerappan, he said there may not be any problem regarding dropping of TADA charges.

The objections filed by the father of a police inspector killed by Veerappan may come up for hearing at Mysore District and Sessions Court tomorrow.

Krishna said Gopal was likely to leave for the jungles tomorrow. Gopal had returned to Chennai last week after his first round of negotiations with Veerappan and brought with him a fresh set of demands from Veerappan including the release of the Tamil extremists and referring Cauvery water-sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to the International Court of Justice at the Hague.