Kannada actor Rajkumar abduction case: Madras High Court confirms acquittal of Veerappan’s suspected aides

Madras High Court upholds acquittal of nine suspects in Kannada actor Rajkumar's 2000 abduction case, dismissing State's appeal.

The Madras High Court, on Wednesday (February 25, 2026), dismissed a State appeal preferred in 2019 against the 2018 acquittal of nine individuals who were suspected to be the members of forest brigand Veerappan’s gang which abducted Kannada actor Rajkumar on July 30, 2000 and held him hostage for 108 days.

A Division Bench of Justices P. Velmurugan and M. Jothiraman confirmed the order of acquittal passed by the third Additional district and sessions court at Gobichettipalayam in Erode district on September 25, 2018 and held that it did not find any reason to interfere with the well-reasoned trial court verdict.

In his verdict, the sessions judge K. Mani had pointed out that the First Information Report (FIR) regarding the abduction was registered about 24 hours after the incident and that too on the basis of a complaint lodged by Village Administrative Officer (VAO) Gopal who was not an eye witness to the incident.

The VAO had claimed to have gained knowledge about the incident only through the general public although according to the prosecution, Rajkumar and three others were abducted from his ancestral farm house at Gajanur village in Thalavady Taluk of Erode district in the presence of many others.

Further, the date in the FIR had been corrected from July 30, 2000 to July 31, 2000 and there was no mention in it regarding any criminal conspiracy having been hatched by the accused to abduct the actor. The VAO had also not spoken about any conspiracy in his testimony before the court, the trial court said.

Highlighting other inconsistencies in the prosecution case, the sessions judge said, the police had claimed that Veerappan had handed over an audio cassette to Rajkumar’s wife Parvathamma and instructed her to hand over the cassette containing a list of demands, to the Karnataka Chief Minister before approaching the police.