|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Wednesday, 20 October 2004 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Veerappan, India's most wanted bandit killed BANGALORE, India, (Reuters) India's most wanted bandit, Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, was killed on Monday in a shootout with police who have for years been hunting the smuggler who killed more than 100 people and kidnapped a movie star. The tall, wiry bandit - in his 50s, sported a long twirling moustache and was usually clad in military camouflage was known as the "Jungle Cat" for his ability to move and disappear in the southern forests that were his home for decades. Veerappan had a five million rupee bounty on his head - a high reward by Indian standards - and was believed to have had ties with Tamil militants that officials said extended Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. "It is with a sense of pride and fulfilment that I wish to announce ... the good news that the notorious forest brigand, bandit, murderer and dacoit Veerappan, along with his entire gang, has been shot dead," said Jayaram Jayalalithaa, chief minister of Tamil Nadu state. He hit world headlines in 2000 when he kidnapped ageing film star Rajkumar and held him hostage for 108 days. The bandit was killed in a village in Tamil Nadu state near the town of Dharmapuri, about 120 km southeast of Bangalore, capital of Karnataka, shortly before midnight. He and his men were travelling in a vehicle when challenged by police and ordered to surrender, Jayalalithaa said. Instead of giving up, Veerappan opened fire, she said. Born to a poor ethnic Tamil family in a southern forest village, Veerappan is said to have killed his first elephant when he was a teenager. According to local legend, he was inspired by a notorious bandit of the 1950s and 1960s and soon took up with poachers and smugglers. He first came to the notice of authorities when he killed a forestry official trying to stamp out sandalwood smuggling in the mid-1980s. He sealed his bloodthirsty reputation when he captured another top forest official and cut off his head. He chopped some of his rivals into pieces and tossed them into rivers and shot and killed policemen as they slept, media reports said. Veerappan was accused of killing thousands of elephants for their tusks and smuggling sandalwood and ivory worth millions of dollars. He has inspired at least two Bollywood movies, the latest being Jungle, a Hindi-language thriller set in a forest ruled by a brigand. Despite his fearsome reputation, Veerappan was seen by many villagers as a Robin Hood figure. It was often with the help of villagers that he eluded troops and police in the jungles straddling Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states for so long. He was arrested in 1986 but slipped out of handcuffs and disappeared back into the forest. A special police force was later set up by the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states and the Federal Border Security Force but Veerappan ran circles around them for years. Most of his guns and equipment, including automatic rifles and sophisticated binoculars, were plundered from police. His gang ambushed patrols, made bombs and planted land-mines, blowing up police vehicles. His last big crime was in 2002 when he kidnapped regional politician H. Nagappa from his farmhouse in the state of Karnataka. Nagappa was later found dead in a forest. Veerappan sent a taped message denying responsibility for Nagappa's death, saying police had killed him in a shootout. Authorities dismissed the charge. Veerappan at one stage said he wanted to emerge from the forest and rejoin his wife and two children in a Tamil Nadu village. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
