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I escaped. Annavaru is fine and safe: Nagappa

R Sadananda in Gajanur

"I escaped. Annavaru is fine and safe," said Nagappa Maradagi who managed to escape from the clutches of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan on Wednesday night.

Nagappa was one of the persons kidnapped along with Kannada matinee idol Dr Rajakumar by the forest brigand from Gajanur on July 30. He is an assistant film director and a long time associate of Dr Rajakumar.

An exhausted Nagappa, wearing torn clothes, collapsed and fell unconscious after landing at Dr Rajakumar's farmhouse at Gajanur on Thursday evening.

Nagappa's arrival electrified the village that has been eagerly waiting for the release of the Kannada film star and three others ever since Veerappan abducted them on the night of July 30.

Nagappa told rediff.com that he was not released by Veerappan. "I was waiting for an opportunity to escape. Anna is fine," Nagappa said.

The fear that Veerappan would have shot him to death if he caught him escaping continued to haunt Nagappa.

Nagappa recounted his last night in the company of the forest brigand. According to him, Veerappan and some of his gang members went to conduct a pooja in a temple in the forest as it was Amavasi (no moon night), on Wednesday.

Veerappan had told a few of his gun-trotting companions to guard Dr Rajakumar and the three hostages.

After the pooja, Veerappan and his members were very tired and went to sleep soon after they returned. Nagappa too pretended to fall asleep. At 0200 hours (IST), he got up and escaped into the forest under the cover of darkness.

After a 15 hour long trek through deep jungles, he reached Gajanur on Thursday at 1700 hours (IST).

The superintendents of police of Erode (Tamil Nadu) and Chamrajnagar (Karnataka) districts have rushed to Gajanur to meet Nagappa.

ALSO SEE
Nagappa out of Veerappan's custody
Veerappan's hostage Nagappa turns up in Talawadi
Karnataka bandh passes off peacefully
Nagappa's daughter unaware of his abduction

The Rajakumar Abduction: complete coverage
The saga of Veerappan

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