India's Top Bandit Kidnaps Top Movie Star

Aug. 1, 2000 -- If this were a film script, Indian audiences would dismiss it as implausible.

The country’s most wanted bandit swooped down on a much-loved movie star at his remote farmhouse after dinner on Sunday, taking him and three relatives hostage.

Rajkumar, one of the country’s most respected film stars — a man whose films are so popular, that a mere rumor of his ill-health is enough to spark mass demonstrations in the region — was kidnapped by a notorious bandit sporting a mean handlebar moustache. (See story below.)

A veteran of more than 200 films, Rajkumar, 72, was abducted by Veerappan, the country’s most wanted criminal, from the actor’s farmhouse situated about 140 miles south of Bangalore city. As is common in southern India, both men use only one name.

Rajkumar’s son-in-law and two relatives were also taken away. The news of the audacious kidnapping was greeted with mass protests, including stone-throwing and tire-burnings in Bangalore. The Press Trust of India reported that a 30-year-old man was stabbed to death in the city.

A Cult Figure

Fondly called the “Gentle Giant of Karnataka,” the state of which Bangalore is the capital, wildly popular and charismatic Rajkumar is a recipient of numerous national awards and is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest actors of his time.

His movies are so popular that when a new one is released, fans often organize massive blood donation camps where the donors are honored with a ticket for the movie.

The kidnapping is not the first time that news of Rajkumar has shaken the region. In 1991, when rumors spread that he had fallen ill, it took a special live announcement on television to calm people.

Rajkumar is a star of Kannada films. Kannada is the official language of Karnataka and is spoken by about 60 million people. These films are popular in southern India, unlike the Hindi films produced by the Bombay film industry — or Bollywood, as it’s popularly called — which enjoy nationwide appeal.

Movies are so popular in the four states that comprise southern India, that film stars are often voted into power. Rajkumar’s farmhouse is in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, whose former chief minister, Jayalalitha, was a film star.

Grieving Fans

Protesters were largely fans reacting emotionally to the news of the abduction, Karnataka State Police Director General C. Dinakar told ABCNEWS.com by telephone, adding that “antisocial elements” had joined in the disturbances.

Dinakar said nearly 10,000 police were patrolling the city and that it was awaiting reserve forces from neighboring states and from the Central Reserve Police Force, a federally run reserve police force.

“We are well equipped to handle the situation,” said Dinakar, “and we hope to bring normalcy back to the state.

The state government had earlier ordered the closing of all educational institutions as a precaution, and the city wore a deserted look after shops, banks and other business establishments closed down. Bus services were suspended and schools were closed until Wednesday.

A Security Hazard

Last Aug. 2, the state police had informed Rajkumar of a threat from Veerappan and asked him to inform the department when he intended to visit his farmhouse. While the actor had contacted the police on several occasions, he failed to do so last weekend, Dinakar said.

Veerappan is believed to be currently in the forests in neighboring Tamil Nadu. The kidnappers have not demanded any ransom, but it is believed he will demand amnesty, as he has in the past.

“At this point of time, we expect him to once again demand amnesty for his crimes and rehabilitation,” a senior Karnataka state government official said.

“Since those he kidnapped in the past were not big enough for the government to take his demands seriously, we feel he has resorted to kidnapping someone as important as Rajkumar,” said the official, who asked not to be identified.

Meanwhile, the southern states have suspended the decade-long manhunt against Veerappan. “All operations against Veerappan have been stopped...we are not doing anything that can [adversely] affect the situation,” Karnataka chief minister S. M. Krishna told a news conference in Bangalore today.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi, who met his Karnataka counterpart, told reporters that the two states had decided to send an emissary to receive Veerappan’s demands.

The bandit had, in an audiotape sent through Rajkumar’s wife, asked the Karnataka government to appoint a representative to meet him.

The emissary, R.R. Gopal, is the editor of a Tamil magazine Nakkeran, and is set to leave for the forests where Veerappan is hiding today.

Gopal is the only man to have interviewed the bandit. He last served as an intermediary in the release of nine forest officials in 1998.

Parvathamma Rajkumar, the matinee idol’s wife who was present at the farmhouse when he was kidnapped, said Veerappan had assured them he would not harm her husband.

Reuters contributed to this report