Indian Star Pleads Abductor’s Case

A kidnapped movie star has asked a state government in India to accept his abductor’s demand of amnesty, saying the notorious outlaw wants to lead a reformed life, officials said Friday.

Actor Rajkumar, in a recorded message on audiocassettes delivered to a television channel and a newspaper office Thursday, said he was being looked after well by 56-year-old Veerappan and his gang in the jungles of southern India.

Veerappan has eluded police for 18 years. He is accused of killing at least 130 police officers, kidnapping people, slaughtering elephants to sell their tusks and felling thousands of sandalwood trees.

Rajkumar, 72, and three companions were seized at gunpoint Sunday from the film star’s vacation home by a gang led by Veerappan.

“I never expected my abductors will treat me well,” the actor said in his taped message. “They treat me like their brother. They show keen interest in my welfare and take good care of my needs.”

Rajkumar cautioned the southern Tamil Nadu state government against trying to rescue him by sending armed commandos for fear that it would endanger his life.

Veerappan reportedly suffers from asthma and has repeatedly offered to surrender in exchange for amnesty.

“Veerappan has a demand,” Rajkumar said. “He wants to live like a normal citizen and wants the governments to facilitate this. Why not give him a chance?”

The chief minister of Karnataka state, S. M. Krishna, told a news conference that the state government continued to have an “open mind” about the outlaw’s demands and would consider them after Veerappan sends a specific list.

Meanwhile, a newspaper editor known to Veerappan has trekked into a forest to negotiate Rajkumar’s release.

R. R. Gopal, editor of the magazine Nakeeran, is an emissary of the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states, where hundreds of police have tried for years to arrest the bandit.

Rajkumar has appeared in more than 200 Kannada-language films over five decades and is politically powerful in Karnataka state. Like many people in southern India, Rajkumar and Veerappan go by only one name.