Veerappan: Something amiss?

Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, Oct. 29: Human rights groups are threatening to derail an official probe into the circumstances in which the Special Task Force killed Veerappan and three of his associates in an encounter on the night of October 18.

The rights groups have entered the frame at a time when the revenue divisional officer appointed as inquiry officer for a magisterial probe. gets down to business. The inquiry was ordered by the Dharmapuri district collector, Ashish Vachchani .

An FIR lodged in the wee hours of October 19 by STF intelligence chief Senthamaraikannan makes it clear that the place and time of the encounter had been decided in advance. Contingents of the task force stood in wait along two other routes leading from the forest to Dharmapuri that night lest Veerappan demand a change of route.

The bandit, who had lured many a policeman to his death, was driven to his in a police decoy ambulance that was ostensibly taking him to medical assistance ? he had been suffering from diabetes and cataract. A commando of the task force set up to hunt him down was at the wheel, in disguise.

The route finally chosen was the Pennagaram-Dharmapuri road, a narrow district highway. At Padi, 8 km from here, a 60-member STF team led by Tamil Nadu chief K. Vijayakumar was lying in wait. Police say Veerappan was twice asked to surrender; he and three of his associates were killed only after he opened fire.

The FIR reportedly also mentions how a small STF group infiltrated the bandit?s gang last year, won his confidence and convinced him to move out of his forest hideout to seek medical help.

Queering the pitch for the magisterial inquiry are the rights groups, who, sources say, are virtually conducting a parallel investigation.

The district administration has a problem on its hands as a group of activists representing rights organisations from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, has dubbed the October 18 encounter ?fake?.

After a two-day ?fact-finding mission? around the site of the ?encounter?, they have termed the operation an ?extra-judicial killing?.

Accompanied by camera crew, the rights groups seeking to ferret out facts from locals ?are seen putting loaded questions on the video footage?, sources said.