A court in Gobichettipalayam in Erode district will deliver the verdict in the case related to abduction of Kannada actor Rajkumar and three others by forest brigand Veerappan and his associates on Tuesday.
108 days in jungle
When the actor was at his farmhouse at Dhodda Gajanur village in Talavadi along with his wife Parvathamma for attending house warming ceremony, Veerappan along with his associates abducted Rajkumar, his son-in-law S.A. Govindaraj, relative Nagesh and assistant film director Nagappa on July 30, 2000. While Nagappa escaped on September 28, others were held in captive for 108 days in the jungle and were released on November 15, 2000.
Talavadi police registered a case against 14 persons - Veerappan, Sethukuli Govindan, Chandre Gowda, Mallu, Maran, Govindaraj alias Iniyan, Andril alias Ezhumalai, Selvam alias Sathya, Amirthalingam, Pasuvanna, Nagaraj, Puttusamy, Kalmandirama and Ramesh.
Case transferred
The case was later transferred to Coimbatore CB-CID.
On October 18, 2004, the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force carried out “Operation Cocoon” and killed Veerappan and his associates, Sethukuli Govindan and Chandre Gowda. While Mallu died, Ramesh is yet to be arrested.
The case was in trial against the nine accused before the Third Additional District Court Judge who examined 42 witnesses, 52 documents, 31 materials, including guns.
The case was in trial for 18 years and two months and Judge K. Mani is expected to deliver the verdict on Tuesday.
The judge had earlier asked all the nine accused to be present in the court on the day of verdict.