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N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras
The Madras high court is likely to hear on Friday, an anticipatory bail application filed by the Tamil bi-weekly Nakkeeran editor, R R Gopal, against possible arrest by Karnataka police, over their current investigations into the 'Veerappan affair'.
Gopal is now said to be inaccessible, and efforts are to avoid a Friday arrest, which would deny a bail-hearing until Monday next.
Though the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police B P Nailwal, has denied the presence of any Karnataka police team in the state for arresting Gopal, sources claimed that such a team may after all be in Madras already.
They are also believed to be armed with a non-bailable warrant from a Karnataka court.
Coming as it does after the Chamarajanagar police in Karnataka picked up Nakkeeran reporter Sivasubramaniam, after he had been granted bail in another case in the state on Wednesday, Gopal's anticipatory bail plea may have taken the 'Veerappan hunt' to new heights.
While sources in the Special Task Force claimed that the ongoing action against Sivasubramaniam and others were aimed only at locating Veerappan, doubts have come to be expressed about the 'real motive' behind such acts.
Some sources saw a political motive to embarrass the DMK predecessor of the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, over the 'Rajkumar abduction issue'.
They also see an attempt to divert people's attention, not only from the failure of the joint STF now under retired DGP, W I Dawaram over the past six months, but also from the steep tariff hikes administered by the state government on Wednesday.
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