Veerappan, – Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, was an Indian bandit, poacher, and smuggler who operated in the forests of the southern Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. He was born on January 18, 1952, in Gopinatham, Mysore (now Karnataka). He acquired renown throughout India and eluded capture for for 20 years. Veerappan was wanted for the deaths of more than 120 individuals, the poaching of more than 2,000 elephants, and the smuggling of millions of rupees’ worth of sandalwood and ivory.

Veerappan is thought to have helped locals

It is a known truth that Veerappan assisted the underprivileged peasants living in the woodlands. It’s unclear whether his goal was to silence them or simply do them some real good. The fact that Veerappan murdered anyone he perceived as a threat, as noted earlier, made the villagers dreadfully scared of him. Additionally, a number of individuals believed Veerappan was a hero and the police were the bad guys. Some of them even held the opinion that he was a political benefactor who later turned against him as he gained power. 

Veerappan managed to keep his faithful marriage despite his impulsive behaviour

When Veerappan first encountered Muthulakshmi, the 16-year-old who would eventually become the bandit’s bride, he was 29 years old. Muthulakshmi claimed in an interview that Veerappan had approached her with a marriage proposal. After only one passionate exchange, She was smitten by Veerappan’s bad-boy persona and recognizable moustache. The couple have two children, Vidya and Prabha, after being married in 1990. Conflicting information exists regarding a third daughter as well.

He was a headache for the police forces of Karnataka and Tamilnadu. Due to his nature of evading police he acquired a Robin hood figure. Veerappan started as an assistant to his relative Saalvai Gounder, a notorious poacher and sandalwood smuggler. His father and relatives, whose village lay in the forest area, were also known to be poachers and smugglers. Veerappan began his career in crime in 1969 and was first arrested in 1972.

He committed his first murder at the age of 17, his victims were police and forest department personal and their informers. He came to the Indian government’s attention when he kidnapped and murdered a Satyamangalam district forest officer named Chidambaram from the state of tamilnadu.

His famous killings were of a senior IFOS officer Pandipalli Srinivas in November 1991, and the ambush of the police party headed by ips officer T Harikrishna. He used to kill anybody affiliated or suspected to have affiliation with the police. He also killed an entire police platoon by using landmines in palar near malai mahadeshwara or MM hills. This incident is known as the palar blast in which 22 policemen were killed

He is also known for the kidnapping of the famous kannada movie actor and superstar of the kannada movie industry Dr Rajkumar. And a former minister of Karnataka Mr H Nagappa while the former survived and was released, Mr nagappa was killed. His body was found 3 months after the kidnap in the Karnataka forest.

He had the support of many political parties and politicians. Some of them are PMK,DMK. He was killed in an operation named operation cocoon where he was made to come out of the forest in a police van disguised and an ambulance and was killed with 4 of his associates.

*Verappan was at the time the most wanted fugitive in entire south India and carried an approximate INR 20 million reward for his kill or capture.

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