CHENNAI, July 22: Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Tuesday said the Tamil Nadu Government was yet to get information from Nakeeran editor R R Gopal on the progress of talks held with sandalwood smuggler Veerappan regarding the release of nine hostages held by the latter.

Talking to mediapersons at the Secretariat, the Chief Minister refuted reports in a section of the Press that he had given a cassette to the journalist when he left Chennai to meet the poacher as the representative of the State government. What he told Gopal was how the government would handle Veerappan as per law after his surrender.

The nine-day-old hostage drama, which commenced with the notorious brigand Veerappan kidnapping nine Karnataka forest personnel, reached a crucial stage with editor Gopal having established his contact with the gang this weekend.

Gopal and his reporters, comprising a team of four, entered the Veerappan domain late Saturday evening through Kovilur forests in the Andhiyur sector. The team took the AndhiyurThaamarakkarai Tattakkarai -- Bargur forest routes and established contact with the gang on Sunday.

Confirming the presence of the Nakeeran team, villagers of Kovilur told The Indian Express that they had sighted a four-member group entering the forest on Saturday and again on Sunday. However, the team was yet to come out of the forest.

Incidentally, Kovilur is situated at the foot hills of the Garkekandi forests, which was the venue of the last hostage drama in November 1995.The gang had then kidnapped three forest personnel of Tamil Nadu and conducted its negotiations by delivering audio cassettes at the various farm houses with telephone connections studding the area.

It has come to light that now Veerappan has kept the hostages nearly 30 km away inside the forest, from where he established contact with Gopal.Highly placed sources said Veerappan met Gopal and his team in the company of Sethukuzhi Govindan, his close aide.

The remaining gang members led by Meke Rangasamy, Madesha and Tuppakki Sidan were guarding the hostages.

Sources had earlier stated that Gopal was expected to come out of Veerappan's domain late in the night on Monday or on Tuesday. He is to to take the Bargur, Chinna-Thanda, Periya Thanda, Palar and reach Kolathur in Salem district of Tamil Nadu.

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu STF personnel were seen keeping a close watch on the Padayachi Gounder belt on Monday.

J H Patel urged not to grant amnesty

The aged parents of Keerthi Chakra P Srinivas, a Forest officer who was killed by forest bandit Veerappan on Nov 10, 1991, have urged Chief Minister J H Patel in Chikmagalur on Tuesday,not to grant amnesty to the bandit if he surrenders. If amnesty is granted, it would set ``a bad precedent'' of allowing the ``atrocities and barbaric acts'' of such criminals go unpunished, P Ananta Rao and Jayalakshmi, who hail from Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh have said in a letter to Patel.

They have warned that atrocities would ``mushroom'' if such a soft approach was exhibited in dealing with such criminals. They said, Srinivas, an IFS officer, was their eldest son, and they had nurtured hopes that he would provide for the other members of their poor family. However, his murder had shattered their long-cherished dream.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.