Kidnapping of Dr. Raj Kumar
by the forest brigand Veerappan
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Raj Kumar
 There is no other popular star than Dr. Rajkumar in kannada cinema history.The people of Karnataka adore him. They call him with love "Annavaru" meaning beloved elder brother. Dr. Raj Kumar entered the film industry at the age of eight years and got his first break as a hero in film "Bedara Kannappa" in 1954. Thereafter, he went on to work in over 220 films and became a household name in the Kannada-speaking world.
..was cautioned earlier Karnataka police had the information of Veerappan's plans to kidnap Rajkumar and had promissed security Whenever Rajkumar visited Gajanur. Only once he took the police protection and did not want to trouble anyone and did not visit Gajanur for a long time. When the farm house was renovated, he wisheD to go to the farm house on 28 July 2000 and ignored to inform Police. And this has proved costly!
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The Drama Dr Raj Kumar had planned to spend some time in his ancestral farm house in Gajanur village near Talawadi in Tamil Nadu. On this fateful day - July 31, 2000 he had just finished his Dinner at 8:15 PM and was watching Television .(Picture of the TV room) It was raining and the dogs Were quite. There were about 15 people in the house. Around 9:30 PM a dozen people stormed in with guns. The gang were armed with AK 47s. They declared "Don't talk. We Want sir". By then Veerappan walked in. All Were in a shock and Dr Rajkumar asked them what wrong they had done and did not want any trouble. He said he will go with the Veerappan's gang. Veerappan, as per Mrs. Parvathamma ( wife of Dr. Rajkumar) mentioned that Veerappan behaved very well . Veerappan indicated that he has a doctor and a bed and not to worry about Rajkumar. And also promissed that he will look after of Dr. Rajkumar An audio cassette Was given to Mrs Parvathamma and was asked to hand it over only to Chief Minister of Karnataka. It is told that Veerappan himself came back to the farm house to get the foot Wear of Rajkumar when he complained that he was unable to walk barefoot. Rajkumar, Govindu (brother-in-law) , Nagappa (An Assistant Director ) and Nagesh were taken away by Veerappan into the darkness of the deep forests. The entire operation lasted about 10 minutes! |
![(Picture of the TV room)](javascript:popImage("images/tvroom.jpg","550","490")){kind=link}
![Location of Gajanur](javascript:popImage("gajanur.gif","350","290")){kind=link}