Word: rajkumar
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...more, snatching former Karnataka Minister Hanur Nagappa from his home on Aug. 25 and escaping the scene by hitching a ride in a bus. Authorities are desperate to avoid a repeat of his last score, when he made off with $6 million in ransom after kidnapping Indian film star Rajkumar. India's Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani has pledged troops and weapons from the central government, saying the Nagappa abduction would be 'the last chapter in Veerappan's long history of crime.' Last Thursday, Veerappan demanded the release of Kolathur Mani, a political extremist with strong ties...
RELEASED. RAJKUMAR, 72, beloved Indian movie star kidnapped by the bandit Veerappan; after 108 days in jungle captivity; in Bangalore, India. Veerappan, who is accused of 120 murders but has eluded capture for 30 years and is regarded as a hero among Tamil separatists, took a $2.17 million ransom raised by two Indian state governments and retreated to his hideout, forgoing his demand for the release of government prisoners...
...India's most-wanted criminal. But in real life in the southern state of Karnataka, the bandit is playing out a much more riveting drama. Sunday, July 30, in a caper that could have come from a movie script, Veerappan led a dozen fellow bandits into the home of Rajkumar, 73, an ailing film icon, chattily asked Rajkumar's wife if she recognized him (she did, later recalling his unmissable mustache) and handed her an audiotape of his demands. He then took the actor, a brother-in-law and two other business associates into the forest where Veerappan has hidden...
...movie terms, the bandit had pulled off a casting coup. Rajkumar is beloved by millions. "This is not just any kidnapping," said state information minister B.K. Chandrashekhar. Some of Rajkumar's fans demanded that the government hunt down Veerappan and rescue their hero. Others prayed for a happy ending. Said S.R. Govindu, president of the actor's fan club: "As in his films, I hope Rajkumar can reform Veerappan and bring him back to Bangalore...
...fans' best hope is that Veerappan will simply let Rajkumar go. The bandit has free run of an almost 2,000-sq.-mi. jungle in Southern India. Here, he has allegedly killed more than 2,000 elephants for their ivory tusks, felled thousands of sandalwood trees to smuggle their aromatic and expensive bark and murdered at least 120 people. Veerappan is more than a match for local police. For the past decade, a force of 600 commandos has been combing the forest in India's longest-running manhunt. It has yielded nothing. Why not? It is often said that...