Oct 18: Notorious sandalwood smuggler Veerappan and three of his gang members were shot dead by the Special Task Force(STF) in the Satyamangalam forest area on the border of Tamilnadu and Karnataka, said official sources. The combined task force of officials from Tamilnadu and Karnataka led by Vijayakumar IPS, a Malayali officer had been searching for Veerappan the past few days. The encounter which took place at Papparapetty village in Dharmapuri district at around 10.55 pm on Monday night lasted for over 20 minutes. Veerappan and his fellow gang members Sethukuli Govindan, Chandra Gowda and Govindan were trying to escape in a vehicle, when they were spotted and shot dead. The dead bodies of Veerappan and his gang members have been taken to Dharmapuri government hospital. The Tamilnadu government has officially confirmed his death. Veerappan has been a nightmare for above 20 years to both the Tamilnadu and Karnataka governments. There are cases of more 120 murder, sandalwood smuggling as well as for poaching elephants. He had abducted famous filmstar Rajkumar and kept him in captivity. Ex-Karnataka Minister Nagappa was also kidnapped and he was later on killed and his body was left in the Chengadi forest. With his death, one of the biggest gangsters in the Indian history has been eliminated.

The brigand and his men were on their way to a hospital when they were intercepted by the STF personnel around 10.50 pm near Paparapatti village, close to Hoganekal in Dharmapuri district. They were shot dead in an encounter which lasted for about 20 minutes.Briefing reporters, Mr Vijaykumar, chief of the TN STF, said, “We had information that Veerappan and his gang were moving in the area. On Monday night we learnt that Veerappan would be crossing the village as he was in need of medication. On sighting a vehicle that was moving in the area, we intercepted it and signalled to him to surrender. But the response was not appropriate and their actions were found to be suspicious. All of a sudden they opened fire, we retaliated. In the process, the suspects were killed.” -Keralamonitor.com

Mudhal Vettaiyum Mudhal Kolaiyum by Veerappan; Nakkheeran Publications, Chennai, 1999; pp 256, Rs 100 (in Tamil).`SANDALWOOD' Veerappan, who once carried a reward money of Rs 40 lakh on his head and gave a chase to seven battalions of Border Security Force and a 4,500-strong combined Joint Task Force of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu police, is still a free man. His legend, as has been recounted in the media based mostly on police briefings, is grisly. Smuggled sandalwood trees, kidnapped forest officials, beheaded policemen and bumped off police informers were the familiar ingredients in these mainstream Veerappan narratives. More

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