CHENNAI: President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared the road to the gallows for four associates of slain forest brigand Veerappan by rejecting their mercy petitions. The four were sentenced to death for killing 22 people, including policemen, in a landmine blast in 1993. Union home ministry sources confirmed Belgaum jail, where the convicts are lodged, has been told.

“We have received information from reliable sources that the message has been sent to Belgaum jail authorities and apparently it has also been conveyed to the prisoners,” said S Balalmurugan, advocate and human rights activist, who defended the accused at the trial. The mercy petitions were rejected on February 11, two days after Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged in Tihar Jail, sources said.

Gnanprakasam, Simon, Meesaikara Madhaian and Bilavendran were sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in January 2004 for killing of five policemen, 15 police informers and two forest guards in a landmine blast at Palar in Karnataka near Tamil Nadu border on April 9, 1993. The then superintendent of police in charge of jungle patrol K Gopalakrishnan and 14 others were severely injured.

Police arrested 123 men in connection with that blast and three other cases of attacks by the Veerappan gang. Veerappan, his wife Muthulakshmi and some other close associates were also accused, but declared absconders. The bandit was killed by a special task force in October 2004.

Out of the 123 accused, the special TADA court in Mysore on September 29, 2001 acquitted 110 and sentenced seven, including Madhaian, Gnanaprakasam, Simon and Bilavendran, to life imprisonment. Six others found guilty were given various jail terms, but released because they had already served their time in jail. During the trial, Gopalakrishnan identified Madhaian, Gnanaprakasam, Simon and Bilavendran as part of the gang which carried out the blast.

The seven moved the Supreme Court against the TADA court verdict. However, a division bench of Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice B N Agrawal on January 29, 2004 not only upheld the conviction of Madhaian, Gnanaprakasam, Simon and Bilavendran, but also enhanced their sentence to capital punishment. But the bench acquitted the three others -- Sekar, Kaliappan and Veerasamy. Immediately, the four sentenced to death sent mercy petitions to the President and these have been pending since then.

“I am happy that our President has taken a strong and welcome decision. We have been suffering for a long time. I escaped with a severe head injury and had to undergo nine surgeries,” said Gopalakrishnan, who has since retired.

Special security advisor to the Union home ministry K Vijay Kumar, who was heading the STF when Veerappan was killed, said, “The law has taken its due course, beyond that I don’t wish to comment on the rejection of mercy petitions. The operation against the brigand was very complex one and only with the cooperation of chief minister J Jayalalithaa that we were able to get rid of the brigand,” he said.

Advocate Balamurugan, also the general secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Tamil Nadu, termed the decision as “anti-democratic’’ and said the convicts will petition the Karnataka high court against the rejection of their mercy pleas after a gap of nine years. He claimed that the four didn’t get a fair trial.

Veerappan’s wife Muthulakshmi, who was arrested in connection with the case much after Veerappan’s death and acquitted, on Wednesday urged Jayalalithaa to bring a resolution in the assembly to halt the executions. “Our chief minister has taken efforts to pass such a resolution to save the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. She has to now help these innocent people,” she said.

Brief profile of the four convicts:

Simon is an expert bomb maker and helped the gang in setting up landmine at the site. Son of Anthonyappa, he is a native of Vaddaradoddi in Kollegal. He is named accused 18 in the case.

Gnanapakash, who is named accused 30, was a close associate of Veerappan. Son of Joseph from Vaddaradoddi, he was attached to the gang for long.

Mesekar Madaiah is named accused 31 and is an old associate of Veerappan. A native of Jageri, he was one of the old members of the gang.

Bilvendra is from Nallur. He is named accused 32.