Bangalore: Commission Fails to Identify Former Minister Nagappa’s Killers

From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Sep 25:  Who killed Karnataka’s former minister H Nagappa? Was is it the dreaded forest brigand Veerappan? Or did the Hanur MLA was done to death due to cross-firing between police and the bandit’s gang?

These questions will remain unanswered probably for a long time.

A judicial inquiry commission instituted by the then Karnataka government headed by Justice R G Vaidyanathan to probe all aspects pertaining to Nagappa’s death since his abduction on August 25, 2002, and the detection of the former minister’s bullet ridden body after over three months in Malai Mahadeshwara Hills, has reported its inabibility to identify the assailants.

H Nagappa, Veerappan

Nagappa, who represented the Hanur assembly segment near Kollegal, which is now part of the Chamarajanagar district, was adbucted from his residence by Veerappan .

Disclosing the findings of the judicial inquiry commission, whose report was discussed by the state cabinet at its meeting on Friday, home minister Dr V S Acharya said the report had been accepted in toto.

However, Dr Acharya said the cabinet decided to conduct an inquiry into the alleged dereliction of duty by the police inspector Shashikumar, who was entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the security of the JD(U) leader.

The minister said the commission had pointed out that even the CBI would not have been successful in identifying the killers, if it had been entrusted with the task.

Dr Acharya said the commission had recommended grant of suitable compensation toe the bereaved family. But Nagappa’s widow, Parimala, who later on became an MLA, had requested the government to allot suitable land around the city for establishing an educational institution in memory of the deceased leader. ``We will allot 5 to 10 acres of land in the city outskirts,’’ he said.

Dr Raj Kumar, S M Krishna

It may be recalled that Veerappan had abducted Kannada matinee idol Dr Raj Kumar along with his associates from his residence at Gajanur and had kept him in captivity for over three months in 2002. The then Congress government headed by S M Krishna, who is now the Union foreign affairs minister, had tried its best to secure Dr Rajkumar’s release and was finally successful. Dr Raj Kumar passed away in the recent past.