Palar blast

Palar Blast

Date	April 9, 1993 (1993-04-09)
Coordinates	11°57′14″N 77°38′56″E / 11.954°N 77.649°E / 11.954; 77.649Coordinates: 11°57′14″N 77°38′56″E / 11.954°N 77.649°E / 11.954; 77.649
Cause	Landmine
Deaths	22
Injuries	13
Accused	Veerappan, Muthulakshmi, Kolathur Mani, Nakeeran reporter S.Sivasubramaniam, Savaraiyappan, Papathi, Bonda Basava, Eranna etc..

The Palar Blast was a landmine attack on 9 April 1993 in Karnataka, India. The attack, organized by the Forest Brigand Veerappan, killed 22 people, making it the deadliest explosive attack in Karnataka during the 20th century.

Background

The sandalwood smuggler and criminal Veerappan killed one Bandari in Govindapadi village of Mettur on 8, April 1993, suspecting him to be a police informer and openly challenged the police force to track and arrest his gang.^[1] He even arranged to put a banner at Kolathur village on shandy day, written in Tamil language challenging "Rambo" Gopalakrishnan, the Tamil Nadu police officer, who also belongs to Veerappan's caste.^[2] Months prior to this Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had formed a joint Special Task Force, with one of their objectives being to track down Veerappan.

Taking the open challenge, IPS officer K.Gopalakrishnan left Palar base of STF, near M.M.Hills, 100 k.m. from Kollegal of Karnataka along with a team of 41 members which included police from two states, forest officials, forest watchers and informers.^[1] The team left in two vehicles, of which one was a bus carrying most of the team members, and a jeep carrying K.Goplakrashnan, the IPS officer, who stood on the footboard of the jeep,^[3] watching the road ahead. The Veerappan gang had planted landmines on the road ^[1] in more than 14 places to halt their approach.

Incident

As the bus was passing over the land mines, members of the Veerappan gang detonated the gelatin sticks just outside the town of Surakkamaduvu, resulting in an explosion that threw the bus hundreds of feet away and killing 22 people.^[1][4] It was Simon, later arrested and awarded with death penalty,who planted the gelatin sticks in fourteen pits on the road and pulled the trigger as soon as the bus carrying the police team touched the first pit.^[2] Simon, who set off the blast, sustained minor injuries during the incident but escaped in the forest.^[2] The explosive used was huge amount of gelatin sticks which Veerappan got from illegal quarry owners of the region, who stored it for blasting rocks.^[2] Among the deceased were five police men of Tamil Nadu, 17 forest officials and informers, while 13 other members of the team including police of Karnataka, were injured .^[1] Members of the Veerappan gang then fired on the team from a vantage point in the forest, leaving the police to retaliate and ultimately prevent the snatching of arms.^[1] This landmine blast triggered by Veerappan is considered as deadliest strike by his gang.^[2]

Tamil Nadu IPS officer K.Gopalakrishnan, who was standing on the footboard of the jeep was thrown out during the blast, suffered severe injuries on his head and legs and underwent nine surgeries, returning for duty after one and half years^[5] and later retired as DIG in 2008.^[6] He saw several members of the gang including Madhaiayan, Gnanaprakasam, Simon and Bilavendran at the blast site^[6] and his witness was crucial in persecuting those members responsible.^[5]

Aftermath

Police filed a case at M.M.Hills Police Station ^[1] against 124 persons under TADA^[3] in connection with the blast^[7] and 50 were arrested by police.^[2] The accused included Veerappan, Muthulakshmi, Kolathur Mani, Nakeeran reporter S.Sivasubramaniam, Savaraiyappan, Papathi, Bonda Basava, Eranna etc. and Muthulakshmi, wife of Veerappan as well as Kolathur Mani, a Tamil activist were acquitted.^[8] Seven members of Veerappan's gang were punished and awarded with life term sentences.^[3] A later appeal at the Supreme Court by the four members, would see these life sentences changed to the death penalty, which although rare was considered a fair decision.^[7] The four convicts; Jnanaprakash (Veerappan's elder brother), Bilavendran, Simon and Meesekar Madaiah, filed against execution of their death penalties at Karnataka High Court.^[4]

After serving time in jail the convicts are expected to be released in 2013.

Significance

The legal action against the accused and punishment awarded in this case is considered significant in the background that, all the accused belonging to Veerappan gang who committed crimes like Ramapura police station attack, Meenyam amsbuh and fatal attack on SP Gopal Hosur, were acquitted due to lack of proper evidence.^[2]

References