Nagappa case: Govt ignored academic's vital letter

BANGALORE: The abduction and gruesome death of former minister H. Nagappa could have been prevented had the Karnataka government taken a serious note of an academic''s letter on Veerappan''s abduction plans sent four years ago.
This letter by S. Krishnaswamy preceded, by two full years, the controversial report by then STF SP K. Arakesh in May 2000 on threat perception to VVIPs.Krishnaswamy was earlier held hostage by Veerappan.
"Following Krishnaswamy''s letter, various agencies and individuals dilated this information and presented it in various forms of self-assessment, which was nothing but an act of duplication of the information furnished by Krishnaswamy," former STF chief R.P. Sharma has said in a highly confidential inter-departmental memo made available to ‘The Times of India''.
Krishnaswamy''s letter, sent to the Karnataka government on June 18, 1998, says Veerappan may kidnap for ransom VIPs Rajkumar, Nagappa, Mysore scion Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, Agro-processing Minister G. Raju Gowda, Dr Sudarshan of Vivekananda Girijana Kendra and former Chamarajanagar MLA Vatal Nagaraj.
Sharma says, in his memo, despite a warning four years ago, security provided to all these persons has been lax, with particular reference to Nagappa, who was supposed to have Y-scale security — six armed policemen guarding him round the clock.
Sharma blames the local district police for the security lapse: "It is learnt that not even a single policeman was present at Nagappa''s residence at the time of kidnapping... That only two policemen were guarding Nagappa for the past several months. The personnel had by then developed casualness towards work."
Ruing that he had been transferred for the "blunder" of Nagappa''s abduction, Sharma says not even an inquiry had been ordered against the district police or higher-ups in the state intelligence, who were, in fact, responsible.
Contending that he had alerted Chamarajanagar SP Harishekaran on July 8 about the threat perception to Nagappa followed by a reminder and a review meeting, Sharma pointed out that the SP gave a compliance report on July 12. Veerappan kidnapped Nagappa on August 25.
Sharma concludes: "If the same attitude continues, Veerappan in all probability will strike at his other targets after keeping quiet for a year or so."
Reacting to the points raised by Sharma, DGP T. Madiyal says, "I was not at the helm of affairs when Nagappa was kidnapped. Some officials have been suspended for security lapse, but not the SP. A departmental inquiry has been ordered."
But a senior police officer said the departmental inquiry will not yield results. "Some lower-rank policemen, including security guards, have been suspended. An inquiry by an officer of the Additional SP rank has been ordered. Such an inquiry will not yield results."
Dinakar''s book, Nagappa''s diary
linked: Sindhia
Times News Network
Bangalore: JD(U) leader P.G.R. Sindhia on Monday said he will respond in the Assembly to the derogatory remarks made about him by former DGP C. Dinakar in his book Veerapan''s Prize Catch: Rajkumar."
Sindhia said he was not planning to file a defamation suit against Dinakar. "But I''ll talk about it in the Assembly, so that it becomes a matter of public record. Besides this, there are several matters pertaining to administration and police which the former DGP has raised that has to be taken seriously."
Sindhia said there were several similarities between Dinakar''s book and slain former Minister H. Nagappa''s diary. "These details also will be revealed in the Assembly. But in Nagappa''s diary, there are notings in Tamil pertaining to the Tamil National Liberation Army whose activists were with Veerappan during Rajkumar''s kidnapping," he added.