Police have shot dead India's most wanted bandit Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, accused of chopping up many of the more than 100 people he killed, officials said on Tuesday. Veerappan, who operated from southern jungles and was believed to have ties with Tamil militants that officials said extended to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, hit world headlines in 2000 when he held film star Rajkumar hostage for 108 days. The bandit -- who was in his 50s, sported a long twirling mustache, wore military camouflage and had bloodshot eyes -- was dubbed the "Jungle Cat" for his deep knowledge of the forests and his ability to imitate wild animal sounds. Government officials hailed his killing as a major law and order success, having offered a five million rupee ($109,000) bounty -- a high reward by Indian standards.
"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 the chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Jayaram Jayalalithaa. Veerappan was once seen by local people as a modern day Robin Hood and eluded troops and police in the vast jungles straddling the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for more than a decade. Indian media reports said he chopped rivals into several pieces before throwing them into rivers, shot and killed policemen as they slept and once beheaded a senior forest official. The shootout took place in a Tamil Nadu village 6 miles from the town of Dharmapuri, about 75 miles southeast of Bangalore, capital of Karnataka, when Veerappan's gang was traveling in a vehicle, Jayalalithaa said. He said Veerappan did not respond to a call to surrender and fired instead, leading to the shootout.
In December 2002, a regional politician was found dead after three months as a captive of Veerappan. Veerappan was also accused of killing thousands of elephants for their tusks and smuggling sandalwood and ivory worth millions of dollars. The gang staged ambushes, made bombs and planted land-mines that blew up buses carrying police. A special police force set up by the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states and the federal Border Security Force hunted for Veerappan for years. A photograph of the Tamil-speaking Veerappan emerged in 1993 when he gave his first newspaper interview to a Tamil language bi-weekly. The black and white photograph had been shot when Veerappan was arrested in 1986 on suspicion of smuggling. On that occasion he managed to escape by slipping out of handcuffs. |