"And police officer Kempaiah just watched," he alleges. "It was on the night of August 31 last year. They went on and on until early morning on September 1. We were at Rajakumar's farmhouse at Bidadi. This happened when Rajakumar was in Veerappan's custody. I refused to give into their pressure. Finally, they gave up and I left."

Ironically, Kempaiah is now the likely candidate to head the Special Task Force which hopes to catch Veerappan. After Dr Harshavardhan Raju's transfer, Karnataka's STF now functions without a commander; the state government is seriously considering who should fill the post. They also want to have a formal discussion with newly-elected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha on a joint strategy to arrest the fugitive sandalwood smuggler.

The yard of white twine in his hands is hopelessly knotted. As he speaks, he untangles it unconsciously, but dexterously. In less than a minute, he has a clear, unknotted strip of twine in his hands, with which he deftly ties up a package containing some papers. Looking up with a quick smile, STF Chief H T Sangliana -- who oversees the entire Veerappan operation from his Bangalore office -- tells rediff.com: "I wish I could unravel the problem quite so simply and put the man in a box!"

Six months after Sangliana began hunting for Veerappan in the jungles, he is no closer to finding the bandit than he ever was. If anything, he realises the task is virtually impossible, given the dense forests Veerappan operates in. The only solution, in his opinion, is to find out, through informers, exactly where Veerappan is on any given day, at a particular time, and catch him there. "The area in which he moves is so large and densely covered that we should at least have an approximate geographic fix on his location," explains Sangliana.

But where is Veerappan? Is he in Karnataka's MM Hills at all? Has he left the country and moved to Sri Lanka? Nobody knows. "Anything is possible," says Sangliana. "But I do believe he is still in the jungles." However, Karnataka STF officers feel the bandit must have used the excitement of Tamil Nadu's assembly election campaign to move around the state freely, probably in disguise, in hired vehicles, taking a break from the monotony of living in the jungle.

The Karnataka police believes Veerappan has just four members of his gang left, including Sethukuli Govindan and Chandran, both of whom, like the dacoit, carry huge rewards on their heads. Sources say he and the STF have similarly powerful weaponry: neither side is at an advantage in terms of armaments.

Meanwhile, 500 odd Border Security Force personnel have combed the MM Hills for the past three months. Now, they are reportedly weary and convinced that theirs is a pointless hunt. "They are from Manipur and used to a situation where insurgents congregate in camps," explains an STF officer who has worked with them. "Here, Veerappan is fleet of foot, travels light and never advertises his whereabouts with even simple signs of habitation."

Although the Tamil Nadu STF apprehended Veerappan accomplice Tamil Nationalist Liberation Army leader Maran in February, they seem to have got no information from him about Veerappan's hideouts or modus operandi. Maran's arrest, which most people believed, would lead the police to Veerappan's lair, has still not done so.

The Karnataka police is now waiting to see whether Jayalalitha means business with her announcement that she will support the Veerappan hunt. "After all, two thirds of his area of operation is in Tamil Nadu," they explain.

"Jayalalitha had backed my legal battle in the apex court against the dropping of TADA cases and the swapping of TADA detenues for actor Rajakumar during the abduction crisis," says Karim. "Not only that, she had, in a personal message to me last December, congratulated me on my legal victory.

"Jayalalitha then blamed (then chief minister M) Karunanidhi for the crisis. Now, that she is at the helm of affairs and also holds the home portfolio, it is her first and foremost duty to revamp the Tamil Nadu STF with reliable and competent personnel so that they can catch Veerappan with gusto and zeal. She should brush aside political considerations and, in particular, the fact that the PMK component of the AIADMK alliance is pro-Veerappan. For one thing, the PMK component led by (Dr S) Ramdoss is not a critical factor for the sustenance and survival of her government."

The network of informers that the Karnataka STF employs is a decade or so old. It was set in place by former STF officers like Shankar M Bidri, who proved to be a particularly effective commander in the mid-nineties and now has 'Z' category protection because he whittled Veerappan's gang down severely. Highly placed government sources reveal that, just last month, Sangliana was given Rs 250,000 to buy information. But Sangliana refuses to confirm this. However, STF officers reveal they will establish a new network of informers to find out Veerappan's whereabouts.

Kempaiah confided in rediff.com about eight months ago, when Rajakumar was still in captivity, that he would greatly relish the opportunity to hunt Veerappan down. His close friendship with the actor's family, dating back to his days as SP of Shimoga when he helped to maintain peace at a Rajakumar musical night, is wellknown. His son, Kiran, is a close friend of Rajakumar's youngest son, Puneet.

The officer was Rajakumar's resource person, briefing him about police rules, attire and conduct, when the superstar acted as a tough cop in his last film, Shabdavedi. He even accompanied the film unit when they went on location to Kashmir and Delhi one-and-a-half years ago. Kempaiah, it is said, was one of the first people Rajakumar's wife Parvathamma called on her mobile telephone after Karnataka's bestknown movie star was abducted.

Kempaiah is probably being considered for the STF assignment for valid reasons. The first is, of course, that he has been known to crack difficult cases in the past and hunted down terrorists like Sivarasan, who masterminded the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. However, he has not hit the limelight for any sensational detection in recent years. Kempaiah says this is because he was working on the low-profile, but essential, tasks of good policing in his postings, such as establishing a social environment that prevent crimes from taking place.

Second, he was Mysore's police commissioner for some years and is, hence, familiar with all that took place on the Veerappan front there at that time. "I did not have the time to actively search for Veerappan then, as my responsibilities in Mysore were vast," he told rediff.com "Besides, I did not have the mandate to do so."

Kempaiah, now 49, was once known as a daredevil and a very tough cop. Do his colleagues believe his proximity to the Rajakumar family and his alleged intervention with Karim on their behalf make him unsuitable for the STF commander's post? "Any wellwisher of the family might have done the same thing to get Rajakumar released," says a senior STF officer. "Perhaps, he acted in a private capacity. This might be a good chance for him to prove how genuinely he wants Veerappan caught, by actually going out there and getting him."

But will Kempaiah be given that chance? Not if Karim and his family can prevent it. Karim has already announced his intention of filing a PIL in the Supreme Court on June 4 against Kempaiah's appointment. "Kempaiah and his henchmen tried to obstruct me, my son Jameel Ahmed (a professor at Mysore University) and my advocates S Umesh and Manjunath when we were proceeding by taxi to Bangalore airport on the evening of August 31, 2000," he alleges.

"Kempaiah's henchmen tried to stop our car and to overtake us near Ramanagaram. In fact, it was a dangerous attempt to stall our journey as my son and advocates had to catch the IA flight to New Delhi and pass on some important documents to my counsel there, Mr Chava Badrinath Babu -- for the crucial hearing of my petition before the Supreme Court against the release of TADA detenues and the dropping of TADA charges. It could have caused a major accident," Karim says.

After seeing Jameel Ahmed and the others off at Bangalore airport, Karim says he returned to Mysore and contacted Kempaiah, wanting to know why he had allegedly tried to stop thie. It was at this time, he alleges, that Kempaiah took him to Rajakumar's Bidadi farmhouse and got him to meet the matinee idol's wife and sons. "In view of Kempaiah's conduct in obstructing and thwarting the process of justice, I strongly protested his appointment as STF commander and demanded that the operation to nab the bandit be handed over to army commandos under the command of a senior officer, as the army is relatively unpoliticised," says Karim.

Why did Dr Raju leave his post as STF commander, a job he is known to have worked at with dedication? "It is only because he wanted to go to Delhi for personal reasons," says Sangliana. Raju's wife works in Delhi and his daughter is studying there, so he asked to be transferred to the central pool, to a Karnataka State Reserve Police posting. His request was granted a few weeks ago.

Interestingly, Sangliana had told rediff.com he would quit as STF chief if he did not catch Veerappan within a couple of months. However, he continues to hold his position, although he operates from Bangalore, where he also heads the KSRP. "I did tell Mr Dinakar, when he was still the director general of police, that I would like to resign as STF chief, but he would not hear of it," says Sangliana ruefully.

Meanwhile, the police protection Karim had all these months was withdrawn in February, a fact that causes the retired and elderly police officer much distress. He has appealed repeatedly to Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna for protection, as he has been clearly identified as anti-Veerappan.

Dinakar, who has now retired from the police force, says he is working on a book about the Rajakumar-Veerappan saga.

Sangliana continues to search for the deadly bandit. "Veerappan is like an active volcano," he says softly. "He could erupt at any moment. We must take action to neutralise him immediately. If his next hostage were to be another VIP, we would be in the same boat again. But I firmly feel even if his next hostage were to be my own child, we must take action against him."

Design: Dominic Xavier

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