MYSORE, July 26: As the Veerappan hostage crisis entered its 13th day on Friday and with new demands being put forth by him for his surrender, Tamil Nadu emissary Nakkeeran editor R R Gopal has launched a fresh initiative to secure the release of the nine Karnataka forest personnel held by Veerappan and his gang.

In an effort at winning over Veerappan who has remained firm on his demands and threatened to behead the hostages if both the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments did not meet his demands, Gopal deputed his Hosur correspondent, Jayaprakash, to meet the relatives of the hostages at Kollegal and Chamrajnagar in Mysore district. Jayaprakash met the relatives of Velayudhan, Anthony, Dasaiah and Raju and convinced them to accompany him to the Chennai office of Nakkeeran.In his latest initiative, Gopal proposes to videotape the pleas for mercy from the children and wives of the hostages.

This would then be taken into the forests with the necessary equipment and screened before Veerappan and his gang members. The Tamil Nadu emissary team hopes that this would bring about a change of heart in Veerappan and help to convince him to release the hostages and delink their captivity from the current surrender initiative.On the other hand, the 16 member team of relatives of the hostages will be shown the video shot by Gopal's team during their recent round of parleys with Veerappan.

This is an effort at reassuring them that the hostages are safe.The relatives which left Kollegal on Friday for Chennai comprise the wife and children of hostages Velayudhan, Anthony, Dasaiah and Raju. The relatives of five others, including the four Adivasis will be taken to Chennai for a similar exercise within the next couple of days.This initiative by Gopal comes close on the heels of Veerappan threatening to behead the hostages. Jayaprakash, who arrived with the message from his editor, reassured the relatives about the safety of the hostages and gave them details about the condition of the hostages and what transpired between Gopal and Veerappan. He also made arrangements for transporting the relatives of the hostages to Chennai for viewing the video.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.