Indian Songs & Movies

Veerappan wanted out.

Senani hates talking about the incident. But in Mysore, he slowly opened up to Roving Editor Ramesh Menon, who also met others abducted by Veerappan to thread together this account.

It was one of those wonderful, quiet evenings. The stillness of the forest was soothing. Senani had just finished his bath. He felt good.

It was getting dark and the door was wide open. From the corner of his eye, he saw something moving outside. Must have been his imagination, he decided. After dusk, no one ever visited them.

Senani asked loudly if there was anyone outside. Before he knew it, he felt the cold barrel of a gun. He sucked in his breath and said: "Oh, Veerappan?"

There was a glint in the bandit's eye. "How do you know?" he asked.

"The world knows you," Senani replied.

The bandit looked happy. There was an unmistakable smile on his face. Veerappan sincerely believed he was a superhuman. Also that he was highly respected, as everyone bowed and cringed before him.

Wildlife photographers Senani and Krupakar stayed together. Krupakar, who came out of the bathroom at that moment, saw armed men. He kept his cool and offered to make Veerappan some tea.

The bandit was taken aback. He snapped at Krupakar, asking him if he realised that he was about to be kidnapped.

Krupakar did not bat an eyelid. "That is fine, but why should that stop us from having tea?"

Nothing doing, responded the bandit. Krupakar persisted. He behaved as if the bandits were his guests.

"Come on, let us at least have some tea."

Veerappan thought for a few seconds and said okay.

Three gunmen followed Krupakar into the kitchen. They feared he would run away or raise the alarm.

Krupakar lit the gas stove with a lighter. The gunmen reacted as if they had seen a miracle.

They were so fascinated with the lighter that they called out to Veerappan. Krupakar was asked to light the stove again while Veerappan watched fascinated: a spark and a silent flame!

After tea, Veerappan asked them their salary. They said they received no salary. He thought they were lying. He was trying to find out if they were important enough to be kidnapped. They tried to explain that all they did were take wildlife pictures.

Veerappan did not believe that. Why would anyone want to take pictures of wild animals?

Senani and Krupakar tried to explain their passion for wildlife. Veerappan could not understand that. He thought they were trying to mislead him, that they were actually government officers. After all, they were always in the forests. They lived there. They seemed to know everyone.

AS darkness fell, they put on the lights. Veerappan wanted to know how they had electricity. The photographers told him about solar energy. Veerappan was completely fascinated.

The gunmen, meanwhile, were virtually ransacking the house. They were looking for something that would indicate that the two were government officers. But they only found scores of books on wildlife.

Veerappan and his gang found the books interesting. They kept leafing though the pages. Seeing the picture of an African elephant, Veerappan wanted to know how much its tusks would weigh.

Senani answered: you should know that better than us.

Suddenly, beetles started coming through the window. The gunmen crushed them under their boots. The photographers did not like that. They asked them not to kill the insects. After all, when one takes wildlife pictures for so many years, one's attitude towards life changes.

One of the gang became angry on being told what to do. He rushed to Veerappan and complained against Senani.. Why should not insects be killed, they asked.

Senani told Veerappan that the solution was to close the windows. Veerappan said a resounding no to that. He hated closed spaces. Maybe it was because he lived in the open all the time.

It was past 2130 hours IST. Veerappan asked them to lead him to the house of the district forest officer or any of 'their other senior officers'. He said they should announce their names before, so that they would open the door.

The photographers declined. They said they never walked the forests in the night and would definitely get lost. Veerappan ordered them again. They repeated their argument.

Veerappan took them out into the forests. That night they stayed in the open. As dawn broke, Veerappan and his men hid near a culvert near the Bandipur forest lodges. He knew that at around 0800 hours everyday, a forest department bus would come that way carrying tourists on a jungle safari.

The bus came trundling along the dirt track. The tourists were looking out. Suddenly, driver Sebastian hit the brakes. He could not believe what he saw.

Standing in front was Veerappan with a gun. Within seconds, other gunmen materialised all around. Sebastian was asked to get out.

Veerappan asked Senani to interview every tourist. He wanted to separate the big fish, take them hostage and let the others go. He wanted some top government functionary to bargain for his amnesty.

Senani started talking to the tourists one by one. Senani did not look serious. So Veerappan sidled up to him and whispered that he must look pained and serious. To make it look like he meant business, he told Senani politely that he should let a gunman hold a chain attached to his handcuff. Just for effect.

Senani soon told Veerappan that none of the tourists were high profile and they should just be allowed to go. Veerappan did not like that one bit. He told Senani that he had been very unlucky this trip; he had got not even a single person worth kidnapping.

Suddenly they heard another vehicle coming up. Everyone hid behind the foliage. It was another forest department vehicle. A group of drivers and forest department employees had come to investigate why the safari had not returned.

Veerapan and his gang surprised them. Remembered Prakash, one of the drivers: "It was really frightening. I froze. For the first time, I had a gun pointing at me."

Veerappan wanted to know whom he would like to take back with him. He asked for Abdul Mujib. Veerappan called out Mujib's name. Thinking he was being singled out for release, Mujib ran to him.

Veerappan was emphatic: "Both of you go back and get the DFO here. You have exactly 10 minutes to do so. If you do not bring the DFO here, everyone will be shot dead."

As Veerappan spoke, Sethukuli Govindan, his second-in-command, had a gun pointed at Mujib's back.

Both of them drove to Rajgopal, the DFO. They told him what had happened and that Veerappan wanted them to lie to him about the tiger's death. Rajgopal immediately drove to nearby Gundalpet to phone senior officials.

In the forest, Veerappan waited for 45 minutes. He then chose some hostages and left. Among them were Krupakar, Senani, a horticulture scientist, N Mythi, and a few forest employees. One of them, Krishna, was a driver.

Actually, Veerappan had just missed a prize catch. Sitting at the Bandipur reserve were some senior government officers, waiting for an excursion into the forests. But the bus had been detained.

Among them were Harshavardhan Raju, the deputy inspector general, Upendra, the circle inspector, Rajgopal, Thimaygowda, the assistant director of Bandipur, and Rajanna, the range forest officer.

A long time after Veerappan left with the hostages, a battalion of the Karnataka State Reserve Police reached the spot.

He told rediff.com: "I wondered whether I would ever see my colleagues again. I spent sleepless nights thinking of them."

For a few hours, Veerappan and the hostages trekked. Some eight to 10 kilometres away, they set up camp.

Krupakar and Senani were cool. They were used to the forests. This seemed like another day. The only difference was that there were gunmen guarding them.

Veerappan spent many hours talking to them. He was fascinated with their knowledge of wildlife. Once a snake came into the clearing. The gunmen killed it.

Senani and Krupakar did not like that at all. Senani told them that most snakes were non-poisonous. Their captors wanted to know how to differentiate between them. Senani drew pictures of various snakes. They were spellbound.

Krupakar and Senani tried to drive home that violence would not help Veerappan. That terrorism was losing out all over the world.

Veerappan listened but swerved into his brand of logic: "When foresters and policemen want to kill me, why should I not kill them? Anyone who tries to destroy me will be destroyed by me."

His logic went thus: He had only killed around 150 people. The police, on the other hand, had killed nearly 200 people while hunting him. So it was quits now, and the government must give him amnesty.

Veerappan loved to talk about his exploits. He liked to detail his murders, how he killed policemen and forest officials. It was almost as if he was obsessed with those killings. In all the conversations, he glorified himself.

He saw himself always in the right. He believed he was a great personality whom the world knew and admired, and that he was one of the most popular figures in India. He told the hostages that he could even win an election hands down in Salem and Dharampuri.

SENANI and Krupakar, for their part, tried to draw him out gently and get him talking about wildlife. They tried to make the most of Veerappan's experiences in the forests. His observations were sharp, his narration clear and interesting.

"He had the unusual knack of description that great writers have," said Senani, who still remembers the way Veerappan described how a leopard hunted a monkey.

Pieced from Senani's memory, this is how Veerappan went about it: "I was sitting on a stump, just watching the forest before me. There were langurs playing around. Suddenly, I saw a slight movement. It was a leopard. Here it was just now and then it was gone. The leopard was sticking to the ground. The grass made the animal invisible. All I could see was the tail.

"The langurs sensed the leopard. An alarm call went out. A little one ran and clutched its mother. The mother also gave out an alarm call. Silence. One monkey was scratching his armpit. Was the crisis over?

Suddenly, the leopard, a ball of flesh, flew out of the grass. It closed its teeth on a langur and disappeared. Another series of alarm calls rang through the forests..."

The gang hunted for meat. If there were leftovers, they dried it. Usually, they ate rice and sambhar. But the dal soon got over. So they had to content with rice and water mixed with sambhar powder.

Veerappan asked Krupakar and Senani whether they ate monkey meat. The photographers said no. Senani told Veerappan that they would not allow a monkey to be killed for them.

"You people go on feeding a lamb," Veerappan said, "and after you fatten it, you go and kill it. But here you will not allow us to shoot a monkey!"

The other hostages, however, had no such qualms. Veerappan mimicked the call of the monkeys. When they came, his men shot them. And so it went, till the bandit released the hostages.

Three years down the line, Senani observed: "His expert insights into animal behaviour is what has ensured his survival in the forest." 

Source : rediff.com

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan is no strapping young lad. Police records say he was easily over 50.Roving Editor Ramesh Menon travelled the Veerappan land, interacting with villagers, government officers and the police, to find the answer. A major drawback in the hunt, he found, is that the intelligence sources of the police have dried up. The local people nurse deep mental wounds that have been festering for years because of police oppression. They see Veerappan in a favourable light.

"At least, he does not hurt us," they say.

Welcome to the costliest manhunt in Indian history.

The battle to nab Veerappan is 13 years old. It has cost the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over 12 million rupees. One hundred and nineteen people have been killed, and scores injured in the process. Over 500 policemen from the two states have been on the job all these years.

As things stand, it appears they will never catch Veerappan. And now since he has nurtured such an ostentatious image of himself, he is unlikely to surrender.

He says he cannot surrender because he has to take care of "a movement". With visions of being a champion of the Tamil cause, Veerappan now considers himself larger than life.

Senani, a wildlife photographer whom Veerappan kept in captivity for 14 days, told rediff.com: "Veerappan believes that he is feared by the police and respected by the people. He sees people cringing before him. No one looks him in the eye. He feels he can even win an election and be a major political figure."

The abduction of Rajakumar, the Kannada film icon, has reinforced this feeling.

Karnataka State Reserve Police Inspector General Shankar Mahadev Bidari feels it is the terrain he operates in that is Veerappan's best protector. Mostly it is thick forests. Heights help him see police movement, the locals are with him, and in most areas there are no motorable roads.

Plus, the area is enormous: around 6,000 square kilometres. For Veerappan, who knows the forests like the back of his hand, it is easy to avoid the police: when combing operations are on in one area, Veerappan just moves into another.

IN 1986, Veerappan was arrested in Bangalore.

He had come to buy ammunition and had quarrelled with the dealer, who informed the police. They tracked him down to a restaurant. He was enjoying his favourite dish: fried pork.

Veerappan was taken to Chamrajnagar for interrogation. Handcuffed, he was kept in the Budhipadka forest guesthouse.

But Veerappan escaped. Sources say he paid a bribe of Rs 50,000. In an interview to rediff.com, Director General of Karnataka Police C Dinakar admitted as much.

The tragedy, he said, was that nothing was done to punish the official responsible for the escape.

The Special Task Force constituted to hunt Veerappan did reduce his gang from around 150 to five. Now that some Tamil militants have joined him, the gang has about nine members.

Most of the 119 people whom Veerappan has killed are policemen and informers. He has cut sandalwood trees in the forests of Satyamangalam and MM Hills worth millions of rupees. The police claim that Veerappan has poached 2,000 elephants. But that may not be true as other gangs too operated in the area.

Today, two state governments are on their knees before the bandit. When he dictates terms, they have to listen. Is he so invincible?

Not quite. Officials like Dinakar say it is possible to arrest him if there is "political will" and good officers are deputed for the job. The joint operation by the two southern states could have accomplished the task. Unfortunately, the STF suffered from ego hassles and co-ordination problems. Most times, they pulled in different directions. Intelligence was not shared.

The money involved -- Veerappan and his gang carry millions for their heads -- was another reason. Many officers wanted that glory to be theirs personally. And it showed.

There was no political will to arrest the bandit either. Officials of the Karnataka police say that Tamil Nadu seemed to have a soft spot for Veerappan. Political manipulation further demoralised the force. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi reportedly even got a house with modern facilities ready in Maduranthakam, 49 km from Madras, for Veerappan to stay if he surrendered.

Political observers in Madras say the STF has been dormant after Karunanidhi came into power. A senior Tamil Nadu police official told rediff.com:

"The STF did not even make him panicky in the last three years. There was just no leadership or political will to catch him. Senior police officers sent their subordinates and did not lead from the front. A wrong message went all the way below."

A government source in Tamil Nadu said, "Veerappan cannot exist without a pipeline to sustain him. If you have powerful politicians and bureaucrats backing him, he can never be caught. Many people have used Veerappan all these years to make money both in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu."

This is a common perception. The man on the street feels that successive governments have shielded Veerappan and ensured his steady growth.

Asks Sethuram, a Bangalore resident, "Why has the media not unearthed this story till today? Crores of rupees have been laundered in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by those who benefited from Veerappan."

Intelligence officials had the names of politicians who were helping Veerappan, but nothing was done to discourage them.

Frustrated at not getting Veerappan, the STF resorted to strong-arm tactics. This alienated the local populace that lives on the edge of the forest in little villages. In so-called search operations, they were harassed, beaten up, tortured, and their houses burnt.

As one villager in Thalvadi in Tamil Nadu, points out, "Our women were never safe. If they ever went unescorted into the forest, they would be humiliated or molested."

In villages like Nallur in Karnataka, there are a great many stories of STF oppression. The STF has not been to the village for many months now. That is only because the villagers finally put their foot down when a minor girl was raped by a police officer. She was carrying lunch to her parents who worked in the fields when the officer raped her.

The villagers staged a dharna and senior STF officials rushed to the spot. They promised to take action. But all they did was transfer the officer.

The villagers did launch a first information report against him at the Ramapuram police station, but nothing came of it. The villagers took the girl to many doctors to get a medical confirmation of the rape, but they refused.

And today, R Rachaiah, sub-inspector at the Ramapuram police station, says he does not have the FIR or any relevant papers with him. 

source : rediff.com

What must Kannada film icon Rajakumar have thought when he saw forest bandit Veerappan walk into his living room at the Gajanur farmhouse?

Rajakumar just laughed it off. He is supposed to have said that a simple man with just a dhoti and kurta was not likely to be kidnapped. Rajakumar loved his privacy too much.

Rajakumar had just built a palatial farmhouse at an estimated cost of over Rs 8 million. It overlooks green fields and the forests Veerappan has been operating from. He had just finished the grihapravesham [inauguration ceremony] of the house, but had not started staying in it. He was still staying in a simple congested little house opposite.

Roving Editor Ramesh Menon visited the deserted farmhouse and talked to Gopal, Rajakumar's nephew, in charge of the property. Here is Gopal's first person account of the kidnap:

IT was around 9 pm [2100 hours IST]. I was hungry and went to the back of the house that has a dining room area. Rajakumar had already finished dinner and was relaxing in the living room watching television.

Suddenly, my 13-year-old daughter Pallavi burst in crying. She said her grandfather was being taken away. I could not figure out what it meant for the first few seconds.

Not even in my wildest imagination had I thought that one day this would happen to us. Look at our house. Look at our living room. Our lives cannot be simpler. We all sit on the floor all the time. Rajakumar used to sleep on the floor on a simple grass mat. He liked this life.

That new house opposite looks like a palace all right, but Rajakumar felt very happy here.

I rushed towards the living room. I could not believe what I saw. Veerappan stood there with a gun. There were around nine of them. All of them were in light green battle dress. All had guns.

There were five others with guns who were standing guard outside. So that no one would raise the alarm.

Rajakumar and his wife, Parvathamma, were sitting on the floor. Veerappan pointed his gun at Rajakumar. As he stood up, one of his aides tied his hands.

Rajakumar was cool. There was not even a sign of panic on his face. He said he would go with Veerappan and nothing would happen to him. In fact, he was trying to reassure us.

Parvathamma was not crying. She was too stunned to react.

Veerappan was treating everyone with respect. He did not misbehave or use any threatening tone. He just said: Do not shout, or else I will shoot. So we all kept quiet. It was absolutely silent.

Veerappan handed a cassette to Parvathamma. He politely said it should be given to Chief Minister S M Krishna. It had his demands. If they were met, he would release Krishnakumar, he said.

Then, they all took Rajakumar, Govindraju, his son-in-law, Nagesh, his cousin brother's son and Nagappa, an assistant director.

Outside, Veerappan's armed men had held Nagaraj, a schoolteacher. But he was allowed to go when Rajakumar said he was a diabetic. Ravi, a driver of Rajakumar, was also let off.

We were all very shocked. All were numb with fear.

After about 15 or 20 minutes, Parvathamma left for Bangalore in a car with the cassette.

She did not speak at all.

At 2 am [0200 hours], she reached Bangalore and handed over the cassette to Krishna. The chief minister must have been shocked too. He called an emergency meeting. By 7 am [0700 hours], the news was on television. The police reached here by 8.30 am [0830 hours] to make inquiries.

It is a fact that Rajakumar said no to security. On one occasion, he had agreed to it when he came here, but later said no. He came here to feel free. Security would have restricted his feeling of freedom.

Rajakumar built this house in Gajanur as he loved this place. He was born in a house nearby. Everything that his mother owned was very, very close to him.

He had strong roots here. He wanted to spend the rest of his life here. In peace. He loved to farm and had great plans of cultivating everything he could. I thought I would be very busy with lots of new work, new farms, new challenges. Now, I do not feel like doing anything.

We had just got the auspicious grihapravesham ceremony done for the new house. But Rajakumar wanted to move in after it had been furnished. In fact, he had come here not just to see his new house, but to supervise how fruit and paddy were being developed in the new areas brought under cultivation.

None of us could ever imagine such a thing would happen. Veerappan had become so quiet. There was no movement or news of Veerappan for so many months.

Rajakumar was very dear to the people of Karnataka. I knew that people loved him. But now, I know what he means to common people. Hundreds of poor people pool in money to hire vehicles to come here. Just to see this house. Just to set foot in this humble house. They are mostly silent. It is their way of telling us that they care and they are also hurt. They spend a few minutes here and then go back, sad and depressed. 

On August 14, 1992, preparations to celebrate Independence Day were in full swing at various police outposts bordering the forests in Karnataka.

Roving Editor Ramesh Menon, who travelled to Kollegal, one of the areas where Veerappan poached elephants, spoke to eyewitnesses to put together this account.

VEERAPPAN'S victims were initially elephants and rival poachers. When he started poaching, there were three other gangs operating in the contiguous forests of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Veerappan did not want a rival. He wanted to be the only one. Methodically, he destroyed his rivals, either eliminating them or forcing them to flee. Rumour has it that he invited rival gang members for a meal and shot them dead.

But after the Bangalore police arrested him in 1986, he saw the police as his new enemy. Anyone in uniform became a target.

Soon, he ambushed a Karnataka police party, killing three sub-inspectors and a constable in MM Hills. He also started raiding police stations with impunity, killing and decamping with arms.

It was then that the police woke up. It wasn't as if they had not known about Veerappan. But they saw him as a problem of the forest department, not law-and-order. But now, Veerappan became their enemy number one. And the Special Task Force was set up in April 1990.

The STF, which comprised policemen from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, was, in the beginning, quite charged up. It succeeded in eliminating some of Veerappan's men.

Veerappan retaliated by attacking police stations.

Superintendent Harikrishna and Sub-Inspector Shakeel Ahmed formed a good team. Both were determined to get Veerappan.

After great perseverance, Shakeel managed to develop Kamalnayaka, a villager, as a principal informant on Veerappan's movements.

Veerappan, however, was quick to see the danger. He would have normally finished off a police informant as soon as he came to know of him. But here he struck a new plan.

He raided Kamalnayaka's house and took his family hostage. He kept them in a forest hideout and threatened to kill them.

Veerappan's brother, Arjunan, was wanted by the police. The bandit chief ordered Kamalnayaka to tell Harikrishna and Shakeel that Arjunan had 40 kilos of tusks and was desperate for a buyer. The buyer must come in a white Ambassador car, dressed in white.

Kamalanayaka did as he was told. He had no choice. He wanted his family to live.

Harikrishna and Shakeel bit the bait.

Posing as buyers, they drove into the forests with Kamalnayaka. This, they thought, would be a major victory.

Harikrishna and Shakeel were to be followed by a lorry with about 15 armed policemen in plainclothes. But they were told to keep at least 2km behind.

With an AK-47 on his lap, Harikrishna drove the car. When he reached a curve, he was forced to stop. There were some boulders on the road.

Veerappan aimed at Harikrishna.

The first shot shattered the SP's head.

Another bullet killed Shakeel, who was sitting next to him.

Police officer B D Mandappa, who was following in the lorry, sensed trouble when he heard gunshots. He asked the driver to hurry.

When he reached the spot, he knew his worst fears had come true. Both the officers were lying in a pool of blood.

The forest had the silence of a graveyard. There seemed to be no one around.

When Veerappan and his men saw the vehicle, they thought it was just another lorry and hid in the foliage. But seeing 15 men with guns getting out to investigate, they understood it was the police.

Veerappan started firing. He was at a height and had the advantage.

Taking cover of the lorry, the police returned the fire.

From 1300 hours to 1355 hours IST, bullets flew all over the place. The forest road looked like a battlefield.

In those 55 minutes, seven died -- six policemen and Kamalanayaka.

None of Veerappan's men were killed. If Veerappan asked the officers to come in a white car, in white clothes, it was with good reason. He had wanted to identify his targets easily.

He was a good planner and strategist. With the help of Sethukuli Govindan, one of his most trusted aides, he had planned the ambush after considering every minute detail.

Veerappan was angry with Harikrishna for letting his men burn down some houses in Nallur, as the inmates were suspected of supplying ration to the bandit chief. He feared that if such terror continued, villagers would not keep his supply lines alive.

Mandappa survived the ambush with nine bullet injuries. Eight years after the incident, he continues to fight to nab the bandit. Two of Veerappan's bullets are still in his body.

Now the deputy superintendent of the Kollegal sub-division, Mandappa will not rest. Veerappan does not operate in the Kollegal area, but the police officer is taking no chances.

"Veerappan is very unpredictable," he says.

Source : rediff.com

It is not easy being a forester where Veerappan operates.

Roving Editor Ramesh Menon pieces together how Veerappan murdered one of the best foresters in Karnataka.

Veerappan plans every murder.

Srinivas was in his 20s when he joined the Indian Forest Service. He loved the forest. It meant a lot to him. He was deeply committed to conservation.

Srinivas wanted to get the villagers to trust the authorities. People had been alienated from the forest department because of police operations to nab Veerappan. Many innocent villagers had got hurt.

His philosophy was simple: Forests can never be protected without the help of villagers.

He worked on befriending the villagers. He stayed in their houses. He listened to them. He tried to find solutions to their problems. He talked the language of conservation. He spoke of why elephants should be allowed to live in an ecosystem, why sandalwood trees should not be cut.

He even started living in Gopinatham, the village where Veerappan grew up.

He tried instilling in the villagers the principle of non-violence.

Srinivas got the kind of response he never thought he would get. That too, in Gopinatham. Villagers loved him. He was one officer who used the special funds sanctioned for operations against Veerappan for the villagers' benefit.

Srinivas saw his network grow. The police had alienated the villagers by oppression and fear. In the bargain, they destroyed their own local intelligence network.

But there seemed to be hope. Srinivas managed to get many aides of Veerappan to surrender.

Veerappan saw that Srinivas was winning over his supporters. The forester was also rapidly growing in stature and authority. He had to eliminate Srinivas.

Veerappan hatched a plan. He said he was also ready to surrender if Srinivas came unarmed.

Srinivas bit the bait and went into the forests.

Strangely, Srinivas got little official support from the Special Task Force.

The police did not like his methods. They had reportedly even spread rumours that he was having an affair with Veerappan's sister in Gopinatham. Unable to bear the stigma kicked up by such talk, she committed suicide.

Srinivas was in his early 30s when he died. With him died the hope of turning the locals against Veerappan.

Even today, the murder of Srinivas haunts the foresters of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

After Rajakumar's kidnapping, the Tamil Nadu government has even indirectly conveyed to its forest staff not to venture into the forest.

There could not have been a softer option.

source : rediff.com