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All nine Veerappan associates acquitted in Kannada actor Rajkumar kidnap case

Court slammed prosecution for failing to establish the case.

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In the 18-year-old sensational case of abduction of late Kannada matinee idol, Rajkumar by slain forest brigand Veerappan, a local court Gobichettipalayam in Tamil Nadu's Erode district on Tuesday acquitted all nine accused in the case blaming the prosecution for failing to prove the involvement of the accused.

“The prosecution has failed to provide even an iota of evidence to prove that these nine men were connected to Veerappan and (his aide) Sethukuzhi Govindan. Hence, giving a benefit of the doubt, I acquit all the nine men from the case,” additional session court judge K Mani told the crowded court.

The nine men – Maran, Iniyan, Andril, Sathya, Nagaraj, Puttusamy, Rama, Basavanna and Govindaraj – walked free, more than eight years after they were made accused in the case.

Dr Rajkumar, his son-in-law S A Govindaraj, assistant director Nagappa and the actor’s aide were abducted by Veerappan and his associates from the Kannada superstar’s farmhouse in Thalavadi in Erode district on July 30, 2000. The abduction had led to rioting on the streets of Bengaluru with offices of four Tamil newspapers being ransacked. After keeping the actor in captivity for 108 days, Veerappan released them only after six rounds of talks by Tamil magazine Nakheeran editor RR Gopal.

Four people including Veerappan were killed in police encounter in 2004 while the actor Rajkumar passed away in April 2006.

While acquitting the nine accused, the additional session court judge Mani wanted to know why the family of the Kannada superstar never came forward to file a complaint in connection with the abduction. He also asked the agency which probed the case why they failed to question Rajkumar and his wife Parvathamma when they were alive.

The additional judge also questioned the CBI-CID, which probed the case, on why it failed to question Gopal, Nedumaran and other interlocutors who went inside the dense forests for negotiations. “If these men are accused, why were not their houses searched? The prosecution failed to provide even a shred of evidence to show that these men were connected with Veerappan,” he said. “The FIR says Dr Rajkumar was abducted and tortured, but the videos released the forests showed him happy. In the video, Rajkumar himself says he was happy,” he said.

When the judgement was pronounced, all the accused, except Puttusamy (who absented himself on health grounds), were present in the court. A heavy posse of police personnel was deployed around the court premises.

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