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The R Gopal Chat, continued

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:48 IST)
RR>> That is not quite true - Veerappan has never made a condition that he should not be tried in Karnataka. It was the two governments together that, as part of the package to be presented to Veerappan, said that they would ensure that he would be held, and tried, only in Tamil Nadu. And the underlying reason is that Arjunan, his brother, died in the custody of the Karnataka police - so the two governments themselves decided that offering to hold and try him in Tamil Nadu, and not Karnataka, might inspire him with confidence.

JHPatel (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:47 IST)
It some how sounds illogical. On one side, he is supported by politicians and on the other side, he is harrased by police. How is this possible?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:51 IST)
JHPatel>> What I said, if you re-read it, is that support of the politicians was a contributory factor to the emergence of Veerappan the smuggler and poacher. The police harassment was subsequent. For example, six months back a 12 year old girl, Nallamma, was raped by a Karnataka Special Task Force member named Eradathi. He was caught by the locals and handed over to the local collector. An FIR was filed, and the case is now going on in the Bangalore High Court. This kind of behaviour on the part of the police is part of that harassment that, like I said, in turn prompted retaliation from Veerappan - after all the STF was supposed to be on his trail. So when something like this happens, the locals complain to Veerappan who in turn feels bound to avenge them.

veerappan (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:49 IST)
I heard that ur life was insured for a heavy sum, before u left for the jungle? How much were u insured for and what was the premium?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:55 IST)
veerappan>> No, it is not that I was insured for a high amount... just that when we went the second time, to negotiate for the freeing of the hostages, I and m two companions had the fear that the police might try something, maybe follow us from a distance and this in turn might lead to Veerappan, without knowing that I was innocent, shooting me. Also, I learnt that there was also a plan to arm some of the villagers who had been adversely affected by Veerappan's activities and get them to attack me. So all told, it was a risky undertaking, so we three - myself, Sivasubramaniam, and Subbu - insured ourselves for a total of Rs 3 million - and this was done by ourselves, and not by the government.

Venkat (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:53 IST)
So what is your final stance, Gopal ?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:56 IST)
Venkat>> I don't understand, actually - what final stance, about what?

RR (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:54 IST)
Frankly I am sceptical whether any Govt. would agree to a max. 2 years jail term as a condition for surrender. The courts might not feel compelled to honour such an agreement, what with justices becoming sensitive to their public image these days. Also, his case is not comparable to Phoolan Devi, he's killed almost 10 times as many people. Given this, what chances do you see of a mutually acceptable terms of surrender emerging ?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:3 IST)
RR>> I, as intermediary, have in fact explained to him that a two year term - or in fact any minimum term - is impossible. I have explained the norms of the court, the treatment he can expect and that he should be ready for it. So now, what he is saying is, it is all in the hands of the two chief ministers - he seems to think that they can get him off with a light sentence, which again I must add I have explained to him may not be possible. So finally, my thinking is that it is the governments that have to decide. To my way of thinking - and again, let me clarify this is not in support of Veerappan - there are a few possible solutions. One is, to let the courts take their course, and subsequently for the governments to approach the President for relaxation of the court's sentence, giving the fact of his surrender and the reasons for it as the cause for the plea of mercy. Another possible solution is to bring all cases against him to one court, try him on just one occasion, finish the entire process in six months, have the court give the verdict, and then maybe the governments can approach the state governor for leniency. These are possible solutions which I had in fact discussed with Veerappan - at which, he said he will consider these things only if he can be given a written guarantee of good faith on the part of the governments.

Venkat (Fri Sep 5 1997 20:57 IST)
Final stance on this Veerappan issue ?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:6 IST)
Venkat>> When a question says, what do you think, give me an example, and so on. Will you accept it if I give a one line answer?

JHPatel (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:3 IST)
I remember veerappan wanted a movie to be made based on his life. Dose he plan to act in such a movie after surrender?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:10 IST)
JH Patel>> Veerappan's 11th condition in fact was that he wanted to produce a film based on his life. He said the film should not be censored - because he wanted to expose his real story, talk of the links between himself and politicians and others and tell the true story of what happened. He did not say anything about acting in them. Interestingly, at least 10 producers have already approached me, asking me to make a script for them based on my own experiences with Veerappan. I told them that I am not the "owner" of this story, so I cannot cash in on it, that would be unprincipled. Actually, I have spent a good Rs 400,000, which we have personally paid as part of our social service, it is not being reimbursed to us. The thing is, some people want to catch him, some others want to cash in on him. We are merely doing our job, both as a section of the media, and as a human being.

Karunanidhi (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:5 IST)
HOW MANY CHILDREN DO U HAVE? WHAT DO THEY DO? WHAT IS UR AGE? HOW DO U MOTIVATE UR CO-WORKERS ON THIS DIFFICULT ASSIGNMENT?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:19 IST)
Karunanidhi>> I have two children. One is Prabhavati, who is in the second standard. The second is Charumati, who is in pre-kindergarten. My date of birth is 10-4-59. As for the staff, the fact is that Nakkeeran has - all its staff - this willingness to accept challenges, and I don't mean just Veerappan. Our staff right from the beginning has been aware of the risks of investigative journalism, we have done several such risky stories - for instance, Auto Shankar, the killer, we had done the expose on how he grew, the politicians and film people and police officials who backed him... and when we were carrying the serial story, we had tremendous opposition from government and other quarters and had in fact to take to the Supreme Court to tell the full story. Again, during Jayalalitha's time, we met a lot of challenges. Present Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had come to Trichy in 1992, and was assaulted at the airport. Jayalalitha gave a statement that the assailants were farmers angered by his stance on the Cauvery issue. Nakkeeran then printed the story, with snaps, of an AIADMK member hiding within the crowd and readying to assault Chidambaram with an iron rod. Then the case of IAS officer Chandralekha who was assaulted by acid. WE again went to Bombay, discovered the assailant - a gangster named Surla - and told te police the details, leading to his arrest. Another case is the so called sanyasin, Premananda, who has recently been sentenced in charges of rape and murder. Again, Nakkeeran published the story of his relationship with Shashikala, Jayalalitha's close friend. We even had pictures of Premananda's sidekick, Divya "Mataji', playing the guitar, and sitting in the bedroom with Premanada. So Nakkeeran has always had a tradition of doing such risky stories. Even the story of Jayalalitha's corruption was first brought to light by us.

Karunanidhi (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:17 IST)
GOPAL, IF U WERE TO BE CALLED BY THE SRILANKA GOVERNMENT TO NEGOTIATE A SETTLEMENT WITH LTTE SUPREMO, PRABHAKARAN, WILL U ATTEMPT IT? YOU ARE TODAY A NATIONAL FIGURE, THAT WILL MAKE U A INTERNATIONAL FIGURE

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:20 IST)
Karunanidhi>> Are you officially asking me to go to Sri Lanka?

JHPatel (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:19 IST)
What does veerappan plan to do with all the money (which runs into thousands of crores) he has after surrender?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:22 IST)
JHPatel>> First, I don't know what money Veerappan has, and in fact if he has any money at all - so I can't say what he plans to do with it. The Rs 50 million he asked for as part of the surrender package, he has made clear that it is to give to the people in the villages who have been affected in course of the fight between Veerappan and the police forces.

RR (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:19 IST)
It must require considerable courage to do what you have done. Well done ! Do you feel, at any point, that your margin is just a bit increased because Veerappan is getting publicity through you ?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:24 IST)
RR>> That is not how to see it. We do not make him a hero - we merely try to highlight his real story, show how he became the killer he is, what factors contributed to it, in a bid to inform the public about the true facts. To my mind he must be the only hardcore criminal to publicly confess to so many murders - and if in the process of telling that story, a section of the public sees him in larger than life terms, that is not because of Nakkeeran and what we write.

JHPatel (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:23 IST)
Why don't the two govt. cut the food supply/ammunation supply etc. into the MM hills. This probably is the easist way to make veeru come out of the jungle.

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:26 IST)
JHPATEL>> As a matter of fact, both the police and BSF have tried such things in the past and failed. OKAY, I HAVE TO GO BACK TO MY OFFICE, THERE IS WORK WAITING, SO CAN I TAKE THE FINAL TWO QUESTIONS PLEASE?

velu (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:22 IST)
i think u have connections with veerappan and his associates. They paid u and u r doing this --unless u may be killed on the way? how many time u went there? is it possible without good links?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:29 IST)
velu>> The fact is that the governments of both states have been spreading misinformation about Veerappan. As journalists, we at Nakkeeran went out to investigate the true story - which is as I understand it the responsibility of the media. People who accuse us of having connections with Veerappan, of being paid by him and such are obviously motivated... if that had been the case, why would the two governments then use me as an emissary?

Karunanidhi (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:26 IST)
THANKS FORTHE DETAILED REPLY. YOU ARE INDEED DOING A GREAT JOB. SO WHY DONT YOU TAKE PRABHAKARAN AS A CHALLENGE AND START NEGOTIATIONS WITH HIM?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:31 IST)
Karunanidhi>> As you know too well, you have given me enough to think about with this Veerappan problem... so let me finish with that first, then let us take up the Prabhakaran issue.

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:34 IST)
Okay, folks, it has been interesting to spend time with you and respond to your questions. Before leaving, I would like to say one thing - Nakkeeran started out as yet another bi-weekly. If it has grown to this extent, it is thanks to the support of people like you, our readers. And it is this same support that has given us the courage to go out into the forest - where the risk comes from not only the wild animals, but also from Veerappan and also from the police - and attempt, successfully, to rescue te hostages. I hope your support will continue - which in turn will help us meet and overcome many more challenges in the time to come. Long live Tamil... and good night all.

Karunanidhi (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:31 IST)
WHAT DO U THINK OF CHO RAMASWAMI?

R Gopal (Fri Sep 5 1997 21:37 IST)
Karunanidhi>> On my way out, I saw your question about Cho. He is to my mind a straddler, a fence-sitter. For instance, one minute he praises the rescue of the hostages, in another place he criticises it... and no matter what happens, he says, oh, this is what I predicted long ago. For instance, in his latest issue of Tuglaq, in his first answer he says that I have done a good job... then, in reply to the next question, he says Jayalalitha has a point when she says all this is a "drama"... in fact, he is the kind of person whose journalism is confined to sitting in an a/c room and writing... which to my mind is not true journalism. And now, I am really, truly, GONE... good night