M A I N   N E W S

Veerappan men’s release stayed

NEW DELHI, Aug 29 (PTI) — In a major blow to the negotiation process to seek release of Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar, the Supreme Court today stayed the release of 30 aides of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan as demanded by the gangster and agreed to by the state of Karnataka.

“None of the accused mentioned in the Special Leave Petition will be released on bail or otherwise till further orders,” a three-judge Bench headed by Justice S.P. Bharucha ordered and posted the case for hearing on Friday.

The order came on the SLP filed by a retired Deputy Superintendent of Police, Abdul Karim, who challenged the Mysore Special Judge’s August 19, 2000 order pursuant to an application by the state government for release of these accused facing trial under TADA on charges of killing former Superintendent of Police Haribhaskar and sub-inspector Shakeel Ahmed in August 1992.

The petitioner is the father of Shakeel Ahmed whose counsel mentioned the case before the Bench comprising Justice Bharucha, Justice S.S.M. Quadri and Justice N. Santosh Hegde in the morning and the Bench had directed the state government not to release any of the accused till the hearing of the matter at 1500 hours.

In the Haribhaskar murder case, altogether 115 persons including Veerappan were chargesheeted but the Special Task Force constituted to nab the gangster could only arrest 75 accused, the petitioner said and added only 30 of these 75 were at present in custody while the rest were out on bail.

The petitioner said justice was being denied to the victims of Veerappan’s “barbarity and banditry” and alleged that if the bandit’s associates were released “many innocent civilians and brave forest officials will suffer irreparably.”

Earlier in Mysore the bail orders of 51 suspected associates of forest brigand Veerappan could not be executed after the special public prosecutor informed a court here that the Supreme Court had stayed the release.

BANGALORE (UNI): Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna on Tuesday said the government would file a counter in the Supreme Court and defend its decision to drop cases against the 121 associates of Veerappan and release them as demanded by the poacher to free Dr Rajkumar.

In Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said the Supreme Court order stalling the release of suspected associates of Veerappan would not affect moves to secure the release of the hostages.