Kannada film industry's legendary star actor Rajkumar was kidnapped by forest brigand Veerappan on July 30, 2000 during the course of an armed attack on a farmhouse belonging to the actor in Gajanur, Tamil Nadu, India. Rajkumar was released by Veerappan on November 15, 2000 after spending 108 days in his custody. The kidnapping resulted in the further deterioration of already strained relations between the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and created a tense situation in the two states.
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Background
Kidnapping people in return for favours has always been a part of Veerappan's modus operandi. In 1997, Veerappan kidnapped nine forest officials at Marapala in the Burude forests of Kollegala taluk and demanded an official pardon from the government in return for releasing them. However, the hostages were eventually released after 7 weeks in captivity with none of Veerappan's demands being conceded.
According to Rajkumar's son, Raghavendra Rajkumar, the Special Task Force (STF) appointed to nab Veerappan, had warned him about the possibility of an abduction a year prior to his eventual capture. But Rajkumar had ignored them joking that by kidnapping him, Veerappan would get nothing more than "a shirt and a dhoti".
Attack and abduction
At about 9.30 pm on July 30, 2000, Veerappan attacked Rajkumar's farmhouse in Gajanur in Tamil Nadu with an armed band of 10 or 12 men. Rajkumar had travelled to Gajanur on July 27, 2000 to conduct the grihapravesham of a new house constructed by him. Rajkumar had just finished dinner when Veerappan and his gang barged in. According to Parvathamma Rajkumar, wife of Rajkumar, Rajkumar and his family members were watching television when Veerappan entered the house and asked in Kannada, "We want sir!" They, then, led Rajkumar in pouring rain, out of the house. Outside the house, Veerappan enquired Rajkumar about the other people in the house. Based on information given by Rajkumar, Veerappan went back to the house and took Rajkumar's son-in-law S.A. Govindaraj, a relation Nagesh and an assistant film director, Nagappa with him.
The Inspector-General of Police, Tamil Nadu, M. Balachandran and Commander of the STF, Harshavardhan Raju were at a meeting in Dimbum, 55-kilometres from Rajkumar's farmhouse in Gajanur at the time of the abduction. Based on a tip-off that Veerappan would be visiting a Hindu temple in Dimbum, they were laying a trap to capture him.