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Advocate agrees to mediate with Veerappan

A senior advocate, Venugopal, on Thursday agreed to act as an emissary to Veerappan to negotiate the release of abducted former minister H Nagappa.

He had, earlier, appeared in the Karnataka high court as the defence counsel of the alleged aides of Veerappan, arrested by the police.

The advocate, after meeting Chief Minister S M Krishna, said his undertaking the mission would depend on his being able to establish contact with Veerappan.

He also wants to take three journalists, two senior citizens along with him to ensure 'transparency in negotiations'. He hoped Tamil Nadu would also agree to his visit.

Venugopal said Krishna was willing to send him.

He said Nagappa was his family friend and would like to make efforts for his release.

The state government was also considering sending wildlife photographers, Krupakar and Senani, who were abducted and released by the forest brigand in 1998.

Earlier in the day, Nagappa's son Preetam and daughter Pavan met Krishna and pleaded for halting the operations against Veerappan, as it might lead him to hurt their father.

In a message to Krishna, Nagappa's wife Parimala reminded the state government how STF operations were immediately suspended when Kannada matinee idol Dr Rajakumar was abducted by Veerappan two years ago, and how such a measure paved way for negotiations and the safe release of the Kannada matinee idol.

Krishna assured Nagappa's family that every effort would be made to secure his release. "We are making the same efforts as were made in securing Rajakumar's release tow years ago," he added.

Janata Dal's state unit president Byre Gowda and party's senior vice-president Vijay Mallya also called on the Karnataka chief minister and conveyed their concern over the STF operations against Veerappan.

Byre Gowda told rediff.com that the state government was 'in a fix this time' as Tamil Nadu was bent upon capturing Veerappan, while Karnataka was in favour of negotiations to secure Nagappa's release.

In a related development, the state government has written to the Centre for sending four battalions of the Central Reserve Police Force to coordinate the STF operations.

Fakir Chand in Bangalore with inputs from agencies

H Nagappa Abduction: Complete coverage
The Abduction of Dr Rajakumar
The Hunt for Veerappan

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