Lord Ram and I, says Veerappan, well, we have a lot in common!

Veerappan says he and Lord Ram have a lot in common.

His argument is that both of them resorted to war for the love of their respective wives.

"Just as Lord Rama killed thousands of demons in the war with Ravana, who kidnapped Sita, I have killed many after my wife was raped," he told Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel and his Tamil Nadu counterpart M Karunanidhi in a taped message, sent through the newly-released hostages.

"I turned murderer after the police and forest personnel ruined my family," he said.

The police, the brigand continued, killed his brother by giving him cyanide and set ablaze his house.

"Even my dog and cattle were not spared," he alleged.

Retorting to the governments's threat that they would send the army after him if he did not surrender, Veerappan said nothing would result from such a move. He said he had resorted to abduction as the governments had been turning a deaf ear to his demands.

Veerappan also alleged that the former Deve Gowda and Jayalalitha governments had harassed innocent villagers under the excuse of 'capturing him.'

UNI