Release of hostage in India a peaceful conclusion

Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

BANGALORE, India -- India's most notorious bandit on Wednesday finally freed India's most famous hostage, the beloved elderly movie idol Rajkumar, whom he had held captive for 109 days in an ever shifting series of jungle encampments.

As word spread here in Rajkumar's hometown, a thriving metropolis of 5 million that was shut down for two days by rowdy fans after his kidnapping on July 30, joyous bands of his supporters set off firecrackers, whistled and danced in the streets around his house.

"Dr. Rajkumar is the god of Karnataka," exulted Prakash, a 27-year-old shoe-factory worker who, like both the bandit, Veerappan, and the movie idol, and indeed many South Indians, uses a single name.

Rajkumar's release brought a peaceful if enigmatic conclusion to a case that saw two Indian states -- Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, home to 100 million people -- abjectly surrender to the demands of the outlaw with the flamboyant handlebar mustache.

Two southern Indian states paid the outlaw more than $2.1 million, an intelligence official said.

The governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states have refused to say whether they cut a deal with the outlaw, Veerappan.

But the intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that the states chipped in $1.08 million each toward the ransom. The money was delivered to Veerappan's jungle hide-out, the official said.

Just a week ago, it had seemed their frantic efforts to win Rajkumar's release had suffered a grave setback: The Supreme Court overruled the states' political leaders and judges who had agreed to release 51 people accused of being Veerappan's accomplices.

The high court scolded the officials for capitulating to the illegal demands in a panic and for failing to capture him after a decade of effort. Veerappan and his gang have roamed the vast jungle that spans the two states' common border for a generation.

It was not clear Wednesday night why Veerappan chose to release Rajkumar, a legendary actor who has played gentle heroes and mythical figures in more than 200 films, after the Supreme Court had blocked the granting of his main demand. "There was so much of mystery in the kidnapping itself," Karnataka's chief minister, S.M. Krishna, said here Wednesday in the state capital. "So there has to be an element of mystery and suspense in his release, also."

Had any harm come to Rajkumar, state officials in Karnataka feared not only the destruction of their own political careers but a flare up of violence between the Kannada-speaking majority and the Tamil-speaking minority.

The Kannada-speaking Rajkumar is a revered figure of regional pride here, while Veerappan, a Tamil, had cast himself as a champion of the Tamil people in his demands and has associated himself with separatist Tamil militants, who would like the state of Tamil Nadu to become a nation in its own right.

"Dr. Rajkumar is a link with our culture," said Rahavendra, 29, a court clerk's assistant, who came to his idol's home Wednesday to celebrate. "He has projected our Kannada language in the state and the country as a language to reckon with."