The Hunt for Veerappan: A look back at notorious brigand and how he met his end 

A new Netflix documentary is once again shining the spotlight on the life of Veerappan. The notorious brigand ruled over forest areas in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala for more than two decades. He was killed in an encounter with the Tamil Nadu Police’s Special Task Force in 2004. But who was Veerappan who the documentary describes as a ‘wild animal in human form’? And how did he meet his end? Let’s take a closer look: The early years Veerappan hailed from Gopinatham village in Karnataka’s Kollegal taluk. As per Indian Express, Veerappan belonged to an influential OBC community. He rose to fame at the tender age of 18 thanks to his sharp-shooting abilities. He kicked off his criminal career by joining a poaching gang.

Veerappan initially made a fortune by killing elephants for ivory smuggling.

According to India Today, he killed over 200 elephants for their ivory tusks during his criminal career. But it wasn’t enough. Veerappan quickly extended his activities to sandalwood smuggling – cutting down trees that belonged to the state. Though he minted money, the government only realised the extent of his involvement in sandalwood smuggling in the mid-80s. This, after his gang kidnapped a Tamil Nadu forest officer and axed him to death. Six months after the incident, the gang kidnapped and butchered some members of a rival gang. Soon, Veerappan’s 40-member gang was indulging in killings and kidnappings at will. In August 1989, the gang kidnapped three forest personnel from the Begur forest range in Tamil Nadu. Their mutilated bodies were recovered from the forests a fortnight later. The following year, both the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police launched their first offensive against Veerappan and were able to gun down two of his gang members. Veerappan retaliated by killing a sub-inspector and a constable. The Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police re-energised their hunt for the brigand. In a combing operation, the police recovered over 100 tonnes of food stock from a hideout of Veerappan in Siluyikal forest. But still there was no trace of the brigand. By 1990, Veerappan had married his wife Muthulakshmi. She was fifteen years old at the time. Veerappan brandishes ‘Robinhood image’, steps up attacks on police Veerappan had a bit of a ‘Robinhood-like’ image among villagers in the area.

He had an information network the police could not hope to match.

Vidhya Veerapan, his 32-year-old elder daughter, speaking about his image, told Indian Express,  “He was genuinely concerned about the Sri Lankan Tamils. Even in the interviews he gave to the media, he always cared about the welfare of the public.” “He had only one motto — to do good for the people,” Vidhya, who is the state vice-president of the OBC wing of the BJP and runs a school in Krishnagiri, added. Vidhya, however, cautioned the youth from following in her father’s footsteps. “…I would like to advise the youngsters that picking up arms is not the right way to fight against the system,” she added. The villagers acted as a cover to the brigand’s actives. They also supplied his gang with necessary ration and clothes. [caption id=“attachment_12974072” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Veerappan was killed by the Tamil Nadu Police’s special task force in 2004.[/caption] When the police allegedly set afire a few huts owned by villagers they suspected were helping Veerappan, the brigand looted a panchayat office and a cooperative society and also set ablaze two state transport buses. In his first direct attack on the police, the poacher in April 1990 killed three sub-inspectors and a constable from Karnataka. The then Karnataka chief minister Veerendra Patil, under tremendous pressure from the opposition, created a Special Task Force to nab Veerappan. The STF, headed by Superintendent of Police Harikrishna, arrested many of Veerappan’s supporters, forcing the brigand’s sympathisers to flee the forest. In May 1992, Veerappan attacked a police station in Ramapura, killing five policemen and fled with arms and ammunition. A fortnight later, the STF shot dead four Veerappan gang members in Nellur village. Perhaps his most brutal strike was when the bandit murdered Harikrishna, Shakil Ahmed and four constables in August 1992. They were enticed into entering the forest near Malai Madeshwara Hills through an informer. The then chief minister Bangarappa announced the deployment of para-military forces to nab Veerappan. At least 22 people in a bus from Tamil Nadu, including some police personnel, were killed in a landmine blast engineered by Veerappan in April 1993. The Tamil Nadu government, which had resisted the deployment of Border Security Force to hunt for the brigand, finally requisitioned the force. The BSF, with the assistance of STF, managed to arrest about 20 members of Veerappan’s gang. But the brigand himself remained elusive. With no concrete results emerging, the BSF was finally withdrawn and in a surprise move, Veerappan made known through a cassette his desire to stop his activities. When the Karnataka government did not respond, Veerappan kidnapped the then deputy superintendent of police Chidambaranathan and his two relatives and demanded Rs 1000 crore in cash as ransom. The brigand initiated talks with the then Tamil Nadu STF chief Sanjay Arora for his surrender. The hostage episode ended when the DSP and his relatives escaped in the midst of a joint STF operation by Tamil Nadu andKarnataka police. But there was no stopping Veerappan. He took three forest department personnel hostage in Anthiyur. They were all released unconditionally after 20 days in captivity. After a lull, Veerappan struck again by killing a police informer in April 1996. Three months later, he butchered 10 tribals in the area to show his disapproval of the arrest of his sympathisers under TADA. Among the most high-profile cases against Veerappan was abducting Kannada film actor Rajakumar in July 2000. The dreaded bandit kept him Rajakumar captivity for 100 days. Another was the abduction of former Karnataka minister H Nagappa whose body was later found in the Chengadi forest near his ancestral house in Karnataka close to the border with Tamil Nadu. How did he meet his end? Both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments had set up Special Task Forces to nab Veerappan. The brigand met his at the hands of the Special Task Force of the Tamil Nadu Police on 19 October, 2004. Three of his Veerappan’s aides – Sethukuli Govindan, Chandra Gowda and Govindan – were also killed in the encounter. According to India Today, it was at the time the longest and most expensive manhunt by Indian police forces in the history of India.

By then Veerappan was no longer the man he once was.

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Still, by then  the STF had come to terms with the futility of attempting to nab Veerappan in the forests, as per GQ India. The credit for taking Veerappan down goes to police officer K Vijay Kumar – the head of the Tamil Nadu STF – and a 1975-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. Ironically, this was the second such tussle between Kumar and Veerappan. According to India Today, Kumar, when Veerappan was at the height of his power and influence, spent months attempting to nab the brigand. Kumar in the aftermath of the encounter explained how he pulled second time around. “The only way Veerappan was able to have his free writ running then was because of human intelligence and that is exactly what we applied to net the criminal,” Kumar told India Today. As  per GQIndia, the task force sent Veerappan’s wife Muthulakshmi – then in police custody for eight years – to Coimbatore. Muthulaskhmi by then had been charged with aiding and abetting her husband and his gang multiple times, as per The Statesman. various crimes and murders committed by her husband Veerappan’s gang.   One of the two other women living in the home was an undercover agent who  urged Muthulakshmi to get in touch with her husband. When she finally did, the authorities had planned to kill Veerappan on sight. But  Muthulakshmi became suspicious as Veerappan began drawing closer to the spot and called the meet off. As per India Today, Kumar then directed a secret operation codenamed Cocoon to nab the brigand. Kumar’s deputy Senthamarai Kannan, then SP Intelligence, headed up a team that would get into the hamlets and villages where Veerappan operated. Members of the secret operation, pretending to be bus conductors, handymen and traders, freely mingled with locals. Some even managed to get in touch with members of Veerappan’s gang and his family. As per GQIndia, Senthamarai posed as a weapons smuggler named Muligan and managed to build a business relationship with Veerappan over the phone. Senthamarai, over a few months, gave Veerappan weapons – that he claimed were from the LTTE – and even promise a meeting with LTTE chief Prabhakaran. Veerappan then chose 18th October for his ’extraction date’. The police painted a police van like an ambulance and even installed secret cameras installed inside. A lorry halted in front of the ambulance Veerappan and his men were in – which is when he realised he was done for. The four were asked to surrender through a mike. However, one of the gang members started firing on the STF, which retaliated. In the encounter that lasted about 20 minutes, Veerappan was killed on the spot. Kannan told GQIndia the first shot was fired into Veerappan’s head. “He died without fighting,” Senthamarai added.

Veerappan was 52-years-old at the time of his death.

The three others were declared brought dead at the government hospital. Though Veerappan’s name continues to echo in infamy, his daughter Vidhya has claimed a full picture of his life has not been presented. Vidhya told Indian Express, “Not many were ready to fully research and present numbers along with data. People claim he killed 2,000 elephants and murdered over a hundred people but where is the evidence?” She pushed back against some of the claims made by various people including the government. “They needed to also showcase the atrocities committed by the police, informers against women and the other public. Will they speak about how people were randomly picked and shot with their hands tied inside the forests and how officials erased the records of their existence? Or will they speak about how the police destroyed the properties of the temple built by my father?” Vidhya queried. His widow Muthulakshmi in turn has has claimed her husband is not a monster.   With inputs from agencies