Veerappan

Veerappan
Born	January 18, 1952(1952-01-18)
Died	18 October 2004
Alias(es)	Veerappan
Occupation	Elephant poacher Sandalwood smuggler
Spouse	Muthulakshmi
Children	3

Muniswamy Veerappan (Tamil: முனிசாமி வீரப்பன்,January 18, 1952 – October 18, 2004) commonly known as Veerappan, was an Indian dacoit active for a period of years in a broad swath of land covering 6,000 km² in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. He long defied three state governments and Indian Border security paramilitary forces, maintaining at one point a small army numbering in hundreds. He was wanted for killing approximately 184 people, mainly the Karnataka police men including senior police and forest officials.,he was wanted for poaching about 200 elephants, and smuggling ivory worth US $2,600,000 and sandalwood of about 10,000 tonnes worth US $22,000,000. He had a price of Rs. 50 million (Rs. 5 crore or US $1.1 million) on his head, but evaded arrest for 20 years until he was killed by police in 2004.

Early years

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, alias Veerappan, was born on January 18, 1952 in Gopinatham village in Madras state to a family of cattle-grazers. He was commonly known as "Molakai" in his childhood days by the locals.He belong to Vanniyar caste.

Most of his victims were police, forest officials, informers and movie stars. He felt the police were responsible for the suicides of his sister Mala and brother Arjunan. He trapped and brutally killed senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Pandillapalli Srinivas on November 10, 1991 in the Namadalli forests of Kollegal taluk in Chamarajanagr district,since he supported the karnataka police. He also killed Harikrishna IPS, senior police officer, Shakeel Ahmed, along with others on August 14, 1992 near Meenyam of Kollegal taluk by ambushing the police party in a raid. One of the main victims were nabeel and rees.

Robin Hood image

Veerappan had a Robin Hood-like image as a social bandit among some villagers adjoining his native village Gopinatham. Sympathetic villagers are said to have covered for him and kept him informed of police activity. They also provided food and clothing to the gang because the villagers say that the karnataka police have tortured them by demanding bribe and they were abusing tamil females,the villagers further say that there was no one to take care for them instead of the great,brave veerapan.this made veerapan to go against karnataka police and killed them he further thought that anyway the police is going to arrest him so he started to violate the forest rules in search of income.

Special task force

In 1990, the Karnataka government formed a Special Task Force to capture him and put an end to the menace. Soon after, the task force captured several of Veerappan's men in a cunning way. In February 1992, the special task force killed his lieutenant Gurunathan. SI Shakeel Ahmed was single-handedly responsible for Gurunathan's capture.He captured him in a cunning way. Three months later, Veerappan attacked the Ramapura police station of Kollegal taluk in the Chamarajanagar district, killing several policemen and capturing arms and ammunition,since they tortured a lady which resulted in her sucide. In August 1992, Veerappan laid a trap for SP Harikrishna and SI Shakeel Ahmed and killed them along with four others. In 1993, the task force arrested his wife Muthulakshmi thinking that he would surrender to them for his wife.

Indian actor Dr. Rajkumar was kidnapped by Veerappan in 2000. He was held for more than 100 days before his eventual release.

On February 17, 1996, he ambushed a team of Tamil Nadu STF personnel from a high ground while they were on their patrol vehicle. The police were able to counter attack and call for backup. The ambush which took place in the evening claimed the life of a Police Constable named Selvaraj from Madurai and seriously injured other police officers including Police officer Tamilselvan. By the time the Karnataka police arrived and veerapan was with only few members so they escaped.

A little over a year later, on July 12, 1997, he kidnapped nine forest officials at a place called Marapala in the Burude forests of Kollegala taluk, Chamarajanagara district,single handedly. He made demands for releasing them, including amnesty, but none were met. The hostages were released without being harmed in the last week of August the same year.

On July 30, 2000, Veerappan kidnapped the famed southern Indian film star Rajkumar. This placed the Karnataka government in a political dilemma of whether or not to call in the army. The decision was that to do so would set a poor precedent. Thus, Rajkumar was held for 109 days and was finally released without harm on November 15, 2000. There were allegations by several people that about 500,000,000 rupees were paid to Veerappan for the safe release. A police official later suggested that 300,000,000 rupees ($6.5m) had been paid for his release.

On August 25, 2002, Veerappan abducted H. Nagappa, a former state minister. Nagappa was found dead in the forest three months later. The reward offered by the Karnataka state government was increased to 50,000,000 rupees (US $1.25 million) at that time.

Death

On October 18, 2004, Veerappan and his two associates were killed by the Tamil Nadu State Special Task Force headed by Mr VijayKumar, near the village of Papparapatti in Dharmapuri district, Tamil Nadu. Veerappan and two of his associates had consumed poisoned food and the villagers arranged ambulance for them to reach the hospital but the Special Task Force got this information and surrounded the ambulance. Veerappan and his associates were killed in the gun battle by the Task Force.

Veerappan was buried in the village of Moolakadu, Tamil Nadu. The police said they did not let the burial take place in his home village in Karnataka, fearing the large crowds that had gathered there. Although the police had planned for a cremation, this was objected to by the relatives of Veerappan suggesting that exhumation would be required if there was ever a subsequent investigation into his death. Thousands of people turned out for the funeral, while others were kept away from the burial ground by heavy security.

Timeline

Timeline of Veerappan's activities:

• 1970
  • Joined a gang of poachers.
• 1986
  • Arrested and lodged at Boodipada forest guest house but escaped under mysterious circumstances (reportedly bribed a police officer).
• 1987
  • Kidnapped and hacked forest officer Chidambaram. Kidnapped and killed 5 members of a rival gang.
• 1989
  • Killed 3 forest personnel of Begur forest range.
• 1990
  • Killed 2 police personnel as revenge for killing of 2 members of his gang.
  • Killed another 13 police officials of Karnataka. The Karnataka government constitutes Special Task Force (STF) to catch Veerappan.
  • Shot and beheaded Karnataka deputy conservator of forests, Srinivas as revenge for Veerappan's sister Mala's suicide (the victim's head was traced 3 years later)
• 1992
  • Attacked a police station in Ramapura, killing thirteen policemen and stealing arms and ammunition. STF killed 2 gang members in retaliation
  • Trapped STF police official Harikrishna, SI Shakeel Ahmed and 25 constables through a false informant. Killed 29 of the party using hand grenades and bombs.
• 1993
  • Blew up a bus of 43 passengers including police and civilians, using a landmine.
  • Killed 17 policemen of Karnataka special SP Gopal Hosur's party.
  • Tamil Nadu government deploys Border Security Force (BSF)
  • Joint operations of BSF and STF arrested 9 gang members and killed 6. Three policemen were killed.
  • Veerappan requested amnesty. Victim's relatives opposed any government negotiations
• 1996
  • Killed a police informer.
  • Killed another 19 police personnel.
  • Assassinated police official Tamilselvan and killed a constable as revenge for the suicide of Veerappan's brother Arjunan in police custody.
• 1997
  • The gang kidnapped wildlife photographers Senani & Krupakar.
  • Apparently killed heir apparent 'Baby' Veerappan.
  • Kidnapped and released another photographer Krupakar.
  • Kidnapped and executed 9 Karnataka Forest officials from Burude forests.
• 2000
  • Kidnapped Kannada film actor Dr. Rajkumar. Released him after 109 days (ransomed).
• 2002
  • Kidnapped and allegedly killed former Karnataka minister H. Nagappa. There are other sources, including police of Karnataka who claim that the bullet in the body of the former minister was from a rifle used by the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (possibly the rifle used was stolen from Tamil Nadu task force).
• 2004
  • Killed, cunningly by Tamil Nadu State Special Task Force members

Cultural references

Veerappan was the inspiration behind some films and their characters.

• The character of Veerabhadran (played by Mansoor Ali Khan) in the Tamil film Captain Prabhakaran (1991) is loosely based on Veerappan.
• The character of Veeran (played by Govind Namdeo) in the Hindi film Sarfarosh (1999). The character is of a terrorist who arms the forest-dwellers with rifles.
• The character of Durga Narayan Chaudhary (played by Sushant Singh) in the Hindi film Jungle (2000). The character is of a forest gang leader who kidnaps a bus full of passengers, kills some of them and holds others to ransom.
• Veerappan, the film directed by Prashant Pandey and produced by Ram Gopal Varma is under production currently.
• There were scores of regional films in Tamil and Kannada than had Veerappan as its antagonist like the Tamil movie Captain Prabhakaran and Kannada movie Veerappan, all of which were super hits.
• Makkal TV had aired TV serial based on Veerappan's life called Santhanakaadu (means Sandal Wood forest in Tamil). Karate Raja played Veerappan and Goutham directed the serial. The serials sheds some light on the positive side of Veerapan as well as their own presumed version of how Veerapan was killed which is by poisoning.
• The Malayalam Actor Mamukkoya did the title role in the comedy film Korappan, the great (2001) which depicted him as Veerappan.
• The character of Veeraiya (played by Vikram) in the Tamil film Raavanan(2010) resembles strongly the life of Veerappan.

Books on Veerappan:

• Veerappan: India's Most Wanted Man by Sunaad Raghuram. The film Let's Kill Veerappan is based on a chapter in this book.
• Birds,Beasts and Bandits:14 days with Veerappan is a book written by Krupakar and Senani, who were kidnapped by Veerappan in 1997.

See also

• Outlaw
• Phoolan Devi
• Lampiao

References

12. Abraham Verghese: The bandit king and the movie star. Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 2001, pp. 71–78.