Jaya rewards STF personnel for killing Veerappan

Describing the killing of forest brigand Veerappan and his associates by the Tamil Nadu special task force (STF) last night the "greatest achievement" of her government, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today announced out of turn promotions and cash award to each of the 752 STF personnel involved in the operation against the brigand.

"The police have not let me down. Once again they have added to the glory of the Tamil Nadu police force," Jayalalithaa said here. Jayalalithaa announced out of turn promotions to the next grade, cash award of Rs 300,000 and housing plots to the STF personnel.

Giving credit to the Tamil Nadu STF for killing the brigand, Jayalalithaa said the operation against Veerappan was carried out by the STF in the Tamil Nadu area.

"There was a big contribution made by the Karnataka police also over the years. This particular operation was carried out in Tamil Nadu by Tamil Nadu STF. Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh spoke to me this morning and congratulated me. I thanked him for all the co-operation rendered by the Karnataka police and the Karnataka government," she said.

"When K Vijayakumar, chief of STF, Tamil Nadu, informed me about the killing of Veerappan last night, I felt that it was good news for me after taking over as the chief minister in 2001," Jayalalithaa said.