1. Koose Munisamy Veerappan was an Indian poacher, smuggler, domestic terrorist and bandit who was active for 36 years, and kidnapped major politicians for ransom.
22 Facts About Veerappan
1. 2.
Veerappan was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching of elephants in the scrub lands and forests in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.
3.
Veerappan was wanted for killing approximately 184 people, about half of whom were police officers and forest officials.
4.
Veerappan was responsible for poaching approximately 500 of the 2000 elephants killed in the peninsular region where he was active and for smuggling ivory worth US$2.6 million and about 65 tons of sandalwood worth approximately US$22 million.
5.
Veerappan was born into a Tamil family in Gopinatham, Kollegala, Coimbatore District now in Karnataka in 1952.
6.
Veerappan had support from the Pattali Makkal Katchi party which openly sought for clemency on behalf of Veerappan.
7.
Veerappan began his criminal career by assisting his uncle Saalvai Gounder, a notorious poacher and sandalwood smuggler.
8.
Veerappan initially worked as a sandalwood and ivory smuggler, killing elephants for their tusks.
9.
Veerappan's victims tended to be police officers, forest officials, and informants.
10.
In 1987, Veerappan kidnapped and murdered a Sathyamangalam Taluka forest officer named Chidambaram from Tamil Nadu.
11.
Veerappan drew further attention by murdering a senior IFS officer, Pandillapalli Srinivas, in November 1991.
12.
Veerappan was not averse to killing civilians, and killed a man from his native village for traveling in a police jeep.
13.
Veerappan regularly killed anyone suspected of being a police informer.
14.
In Govindapadi, Mettur, Veerappan killed a Bandari person whom he suspected of being a police informer.
15.
Three months later, Veerappan attacked the Ramapura police station in Kollegal, killing several policemen and capturing arms and ammunition.
16.
On 30 June 2000, Veerappan abducted Kannada cinema actor Rajkumar and three others from Dodda Gajanur, a village in Sathyamangalam taluk Erode district near the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border, where the film star was attending his housewarming ceremony.
17.
Veerappan demanded justice for Tamil Nadu in the Cauvery Water dispute, as well as making Tamil the second official language of Karnataka and the release of certain Tamil political prisoners jailed in Tamil Nadu.
18.
On 25 August 2002, Veerappan abducted H Nagappa, a former minister of Karnataka, from his village in Kamagere, Chamarajanagar district.
19.
For several years during the 1990s, Veerappan kidnapped police officials and other personalities and demanded ransom money.
20.
Veerappan's death was described as the "death of a demon".
21.
Several human rights activists, who rallied under the banner of the Centre for Protection of Civil Liberties, claimed that circumstantial evidence indicated that Veerappan was murdered by police after being tortured.
22.
Veerappan was buried at Moolakkadu near Mettur in Tamil Nadu, as his family members were more attached to it and most of his relatives in Gopinatham had left.