Closing the chapter on Veerappan

by T.K. Srinivasa Chari

The cover of the book.

In 2004, he was yet another who had led a force to put an end to the murders and mayhem committed by Veerappan and his men. With his book, Veerappan, Chasing the Brigand released this year, K. Vijay Kumar ips has resurrected the life and times of the brigand on whose head there was a reward of Rs. 5 crore. In an anecdote in the book, a villager asks, “How much is that in goats?” He was told that assuming each goat cost Rs. 2,500, it would amount to 20,000 of them. “What would I do with so many? It’s better to preserve one’s life than run after an unmanageable reward, which you may not even live to see,” the villager bluntly responded.

Vijay Kumar, who had three stints in Tamil Nadu’s Special Task Force (STF), has retold the story of the meteoric rise of Veerappan. The book also tells the stories of the forces pitted against him. Having put together in one narrative the 20-odd years of Veerappan’s life of smuggling, poaching, killings and kidnappings, the author tells us upfront that many of the episodes in the book have been recounted by piecing together secondary reports from multiple sources. Differing versions of the same event have been reconciled to give readers a logical and accurate account. Woven into the narration are recollections of his colleagues Inspector Karuppusamy, DSP Ashok Kumar and TN and Karnataka STF joint chief W.I. Dawaram, among others.

Speaking to his men at the Force’s headquarters in Sathyamangalam on taking over for his final stint with the STF in 2004, Vijay Kumar pointed out that Veerappan’s gang of 150 had been whittled down to single digits. But this was not before the official count stated that 44 police and forestry personnel and at least 80 civilians had been killed by the Veerappan gang. Not to speak of the kidnappings of Kannada cinema demigod Raj Kumar, Karnataka Minister Nagappa, DSP Chidambaranathan, and some wildlife photographers. Veerappan’s notoriety reached dizzying heights, even Time and a Chinese daily carried reports.

According to a horoscope of Koose Muniswamy Veerappan obtained by intelligence sources, he was born on January 18, 1952 in the thickly forested area where Gopinatham village is, in Karnataka, near the Tamil Nadu border. Every other family in these jungle areas had a crude firearm, typically the unlicensed native muzzle loaders, to keep wild animals at bay. Veerappan did not have to go far to become a marksman. Even as a juvenile, he got on the wrong side of the law for hunting wild boar but made good his escape into the forest, the first of many times in his life. He then joined Sevi Gounder’s gang to poach elephants. As villagers of the tiny hamlets were wary of officials of any hue, Veerappan became famous by defying officialdom. He began recruiting gang members from among jobless miners and resentful villagers. The village folk served as his couriers, guides and his eyes and ears. As a leader, he gave the impression of holding sway over all the villagers. He also employed them for cutting down sandalwood trees and smuggling them.

The Veerappan saga would have taken a different turn in 1986 when he was arrested in Bangalore. But he escaped. The incident echoed 14 years later in the Supreme Court during a hearing on the Raj Kumar kidnapping case. In Bangalore to buy ammunition, he was arrested and handed over to a superintendent in the forest cell. Srinivas, a forest official, took custody of Veerappan but the brigand escaped from him into the Boodipagada forest. The escape proved costly, especially to Srinivas, who was much later shot and beheaded by a vengeful Veerappan. Srinivas had mobilised villagers to stand up against the gang leader. He successfully raided one of Veerappan’s hideouts and confiscated nearly 800 kg of sandalwood and got 20 bandits to surrender. Eventually, Srinivas was fooled into meeting Veerappan who had expressed his willingness to surrender. Srinivas made the mistake of going in the company of only some villagers. As they neared the meeting point, the villagers had fallen back and the Deputy Conservator of Forests was trapped.

The see-saw battles between Veerappan and the STFs of two States at one point even the BSF was brought in continued. Around midnight of May 19, 1992, Veerappan and his men attacked the Rampura police station leaving five policemen dead and two grievously injured. It was Veerappan’s response to the death of his right-hand man, Gurunathan, in police custody. The forest brigand’s tactics were guerilla warfare at its best, while from the STF’s side they were able only to weaken Veerappan by a man here, a man there.

On April 9, 1993, Veerappan ambushed the jungle patrol headed by ‘Rambo’ Gopalakrishnan. The former DSP of Ramnad District was taunted by a huge banner in Kolathur village daring him to catch Veerappan at a designated place. In spite of warnings not to take up the challenge, the police officer persisted. The bandit had planted explosives all along the route Rambo’s party was to take. The body count 21 charred to death. Rambo escaped with serious injuries. The book calls the tragedy ‘The Good Friday Massacre’.

Another event that catapulted Veerappan to national and international attention was the abduction of Kannada film star, Raj Kumar, on July 30, 2000. The consequence was the calling off of all STF operations. Like a seasoned politico, Veerappan made demands pertaining to the Cauvery water dispute, release of members of the terrorist group TNLA, and even one on the procurement price of tea leaves. After 108 days, Raj Kumar was released.

Fast forward to October 18, 2004, Veerappan and three of his men fell into the STF’s trap of being taken away to the safety of the LTTE held parts of Sri Lanka and also to a doctor to remove the cataract in one of Veerappan’s eyes. The encounter and shootout at Padi, 12 km from Dharmapuri, codenamed Operation Cocoon, started at 10.50 pm and ended 20 minutes later. The encounter was high-profile. Other than  Vijay Kumar, only four others were aware that their target was the 52-year-old Veerappan. Two of them were driving Veerappan and his cohorts in their last moments in a police vehicle remodeled as an ambulance. The two policemen jumped out at the lastmoment.

Dedicated to J. Jayalalithaa and to all search teams, Vijay Kumar’s book has won encomiums from writers like Amish Tripathi: “True stories have rarely been this exciting,” and Ashwin Sanghi: “A meticulously researched non-fiction work that hooks you like a compelling thriller.”

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