Now Reading: 108-day hostage crisis: Veerappan abducts Dr Rajkumar on Bhimana Amavasya
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108-day hostage crisis: Veerappan abducts Dr Rajkumar on Bhimana Amavasya
108-day hostage crisis: Veerappan abducts Dr Rajkumar on Bhimana Amavasya
On July 30, 2000, Bhimana Amavasya night, forest brigand Veerappan abducted Kannada cinema icon Dr Rajkumar from his farmhouse in Gajanur. The actor was taken along with three others into the forests,…
The Story in Brief
On July 30, 2000, Bhimana Amavasya night, forest brigand Veerappan abducted Kannada cinema icon Dr Rajkumar from his farmhouse in Gajanur. The actor was taken along with three others into the forests, beginning a 108-day hostage crisis that paralysed Karnataka. Veerappan handed Rajkumar's wife, Parvathamma, an audio cassette for Chief Minister S M Krishna, setting off an emergency government response.
Journalist R R Gopal of Nakkheeran acted as intermediary between Veerappan and the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments. Dr Rajkumar reportedly maintained his daily yoga and pranayama during captivity. He was released unharmed on November 15, 2000, sparking mass celebrations across the state. The abduction is depicted in the 2013 film Attahasa.
The Indian Opinion
The familiar narrative casts Veerappan as a mere villain and Dr Rajkumar as a passive victim. But the bandit's eventual release of the actor unharmed, and the respect he reportedly earned for Rajkumar's calm, complicate that simplicity. The crisis also exposed how two state governments fumbled a law-and-order challenge, with intermediaries like R R Gopal running the actual negotiations. The real test is whether Karnataka's institutions have learned anything about handling hostage crises without public hysteria.
Source: cinemaexpress.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
