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Veerappan strikes again, loots police station this time

Top police officials from Madras have rushed to Erode to launch a hunt for elusive sandalwood smuggler Veerappan, who, along with nine of his gang members, had struck again late last night looting the Vellitiruppur police station in Bhavani taluk of Tamil Nadu, carrying away arms and cash at gunpoint.

Chief secretary A P Muthuswamy told newspersons at the state secretariat in Madras that additional director-general of police S Kumaraswamy had already reached Erode. State director-general of police F C Sharma, who was on his way back to the city from Coimbatore, and P Kalimuthu, commander of the joint special task force set up to nab Veerappan, have rushed to erode.

According to reports received in Madras, a 10-member gang, including Veerappan, swooped down on the police station located five km from the forest area around midnight.

After cutting the telephone wires, the gang locked up six policemen and took away at gunpoint, nine muskets, one pistol, some rounds of ammunition and Rs 5,000 in cash. One of the policemen was injured in the melee.

A police team from Karnataka had also rushed to Erode, where high level discussions were being held on the future course of action, Muthuswamy said.

UNI

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