Palar bomb blast accused released on humanitarian grounds

Mysuru: Forest brigand Veerappan's accomplice Gnanaprakash, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Palar bomb blast case, was released from the Mysore Central Jail here on Tuesday morning on bail.

Gnanaprakash was suffering from lung cancer, the Supreme Court had granted him bail on November 26 on humanitarian grounds. Advocate Baburaj had applied to the Chamarajanagar District Sessions Court to allow the release of Gnana Prakash as per the Supreme Order. On Monday, the court obtained a surety and a bond of ₹ 5 lakh from the duo. Later, the court ordered the Chief Superintendent of the Central Jail to release Gnana Prakash.

Gnanaprakash of Martalli Sandanapalya in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district was involved in the 1993 Palar bomb blast case along with Veerappan, Simon, Bilavendran and Meesekara Madaiah in 1997 under the TADA Act, the TADA court of Mysore sentenced him to death. In 2014, the Supreme Court commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment. Veerappan died in an encounter on August 18, 2004, while his accomplice Simon, Bilavendran passed away a few years back , only Madaiah and Gnanaprakash are alive.

68-year-old Gnana Prakash, who spent the past 29 years in Belgaum's Hindalaga and Mysore jails, has been suffering from lung cancer for one and a half years. He is being treated at Kidwai hospital in Bangalore. Against this backdrop, lawyers Vikram and Bharti filed an application in the Supreme Court to release Gnana Prakash on bail. The Supreme Court awarded the release.

'I have not been sober for two years. I had an ulcer in his lungs, it was cancer. I underwent chemotherapy six times at the hospital'. All children were young when he entered prison. 'There are three children. The court has given him the opportunity to be with him in his last days and get treatment. 'he added. 'I worked as a loom and a watcher in the prison. Everyone is well taken care of. He said that he could not work for the last two years due to old age.'

Relatives including brothers Anthony and Thomas got emotional after seeing Gnanaprakash coming out of jail with his belongings and jackfruit sapling. Karnataka Tamil Kalam Union General Secretary Arpudaraj, Madale Swami of Martalli Sandanapalya, Anburaj and Vakil Baburaj received him.

Palar, a village adjacent to Mahadeshwar hill is It is around 50 km from where Veerappan had made it a workplace in the area. On April 9, 1993, Veerappan's accomplices hatched a plan to attack Gopalakrishna, the then Tamil Nadu STF chief, and his team. Veerappan's accomplices, who had stored a lot of bombs, planted a landmine near Sorkaipatti near Palar. A special team including Gopalkrishna went to Palar on the Tamil Nadu border with informers. 22 people were killed and several others were injured by the landmine detonated by Simon.

After the incident, a case was registered against 124 associates including Veerappan in connection with the bomb blast. The then STF chief Shankar Bidari intensified the operation around Malai Mahadeshwara Hill with his team to capture Veerappan and after three months Veerappan's accomplices Meesekara Madaiah, Gnana Prakash, Simon and Bilavendran were arrested.