Rediff Navigator News

Commentary

Capital Buzz

The Rediff Poll

Crystal Ball

Click Here

The Rediff Special

Arena

Veerappan's terms for surrender

Veerappan's conditions for surrender, according to Nakkeeran.

Veerapan
Veerappan will surrender only before the President of India by laying down arms. (This was modified after Nakkeeran editor R Gopal convinced him. He later said he would be content to surrender in public with an order for clemency signed by the President stating, "public clemency has been given to Veerappan and if any injury is caused to Veerpapan, the government will take action against the culprits". He also wanted ads in the newspapers and radio about his surrender).

2. He must immediately be given police protection and an inquiry must be conducted into police atrocities. Hundreds of women were raped and several men were killed by the police unnecessarily. He affirms he would bring hundreds of women to stand witness in such an inquiry.

3. The government should compensate the families of men killed by the police. He also demands compensation from victims of rape by policemen. Compensation did not mean meagre amounts like Rs 10,000, but over Rs 100,000 since once the head of a family died the members could not survive.

4. Since he belonged to a traditional hunting family, even conducting daily poojas on them, he wanted three types of gun licences for himself -- one for a revolver, a .375 rifle and a third one for a double-barrel gun. the licences are only for his protection. He swear upon God that he will not use the weapons against people. He also wanted gambling and hunting licences, the latter to keep forest officials seeking to harass him at bay when he visits the forest to worship his family deities. He also sought an annual quota of 300 to 400 bullets or cartridges.

5. He demands Rs 5 billion as compensation for the properties the police has seized from his family members and associates, for destroying the Perumal temple constructed by him and for looting millions of rupees from thehundi, for stealing a silver spear and gold ornaments worth millions of rupees, for destroying his house, agricultural land, well and pump set.

6. Veerappan claims he should be given clemency in all pending criminal cases, claiming all of them were false. Clemency must also be extended to hundreds of his men in prison in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

7. He demands that the police forces deployed to capture him in the forest must be immediately removed so avoid unnecessary problems in case of a clash. Till negotiations are complete, Veerappan claims he will not even kill a dog.

8. He demands the return of six sets of elephant tusks, kept for a special religious purpose.

He states that the chief minister takes initiative and gets public clemency for him and for his men.

9. His brother Arjunan and his associates Lyandhurai and Rangaswamy were forced by the police to consume cyanide when they were in judicial custody. Former chief minister Jayalalitha and the then Karnataka chief minister Deve Gowda knew about this criminal conspiracy. The Central Bureau of Investigation should conduct an inquiry and the offending police officers be punished.

10. Veerappan wants to produce a biographical film on himself, one that should not be banned because it was derogatory of politicians, officials and the police.

Do you think the government should give into Veerappan's demands?

The Rediff Special
E-mail


Home | News | Business | Cricket | Movies | Chat
Travel | Life/Style | Freedom | Infotech
Feedback

Copyright 1997 Rediff On The Net
All rights reserved