Gajanur mourns son of the soil's demise

Mysore, Apr 12 (UNI) A pall of gloom descended on Gajanur village, bordering Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, when the news about the death of the son of the soil -- Kannada thespian Rajkumar -- trickled in.

The people of the village and neighbouring villages gathered at Rajkumar's house there to get more information about the sad news.

Rajkumar's father's village Singanallur in Chamarajanagar district also mourned the death of the superstar.

Gajanur village played host to the most unpleasant experience in his life. Notorious sandalwood smuggler Veerappan abducted him from his farm house at Gajanur and kept him in captivity for 109 days in 2000.

At the age 71, Rajkumar had to undergo an ordeal in the thick of the jungles from July 30 to November 15, 2000. He was released unharmed by the forest brigand, who was demanding the release of Tamil activists, who were in jail under a now defunct anti-terrorism law.

After the unsavoury experience, the thespian visited his home village once to attend some local festival last year.

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