The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Government, police accused of laxity

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 08, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Government, police accused of laxity

Staff Reporter

Nagappa's son deposes before panel

BANGALORE: "Neither the State Government nor the police really tried to secure the release of my father and the former Minister, H. Nagappa, from the clutches of Veerappan," Preetam said here on Saturday.

Deposing before the Justice R.G. Vaidyanatha Commission of Inquiry, which is looking into the facts and circumstances leading to the death of Nagappa after his kidnap, Dr. Preetam accused the Government of not being serious about securing his father's release by negotiating with Veerappan. With regard to the police, he said they were slow in reacting to the news of his father's abduction.

`We met leaders'

Dr. Preetam said that soon after his father's abduction, he, his mother, his sister and his brother-in-law, Kiran Patel, met the Chief Minister, the Home Minister, and the Law Minister and asked them to take steps to get their father released.

They also made similar requests to Cabinet Ministers, Opposition leaders, the Director- General of Police, the Karnataka Special Task Force chief and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

Dr. Preetam said he had requested the State Government to negotiate with the forest brigand to get his father released. He had also requested Kalyani, Sukumaran and Kollathur Mani in this regard.

All of them agreed to act as emissaries provided the State Government accepted their conditions. The Government was not ready to accept their conditions, he said.

Referring to Mani, he said: "The Chief Minister showed no sign of sending Mani. He also did not agree to the request to send his cabinet colleague, (the late) Raju Gowda," he said.

Dr. Preetam alleged that the police were slow in reacting to his father's abduction from his Kamagere residence on August 28, 2002. Denying claims of the police that the search operation started the same day, Dr. Preetam said it started three days after the abduction.

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