India's most wanted bandit killed in shootout
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-19 09:58

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 (Eds: one name) hostage for 108 days.

Indian bandit Koose Muniswamy Veerappan is seen in this November 15, 2000 file photo at an undisclosed location in southern India. [Reuters]

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.

Jayalalithaa said three members of Veerappan's gang were also killed in the shootout on Monday night.

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.

An audio cassette message from Veerappan, a Tamil from Tamil Nadu state, denied responsibility for the death of H. Nagappa, 66, a former minister in the state government of Karnataka, and blamed police for a shootout. Authorities dismissed the charge.

Veerappan was also accused of killing thousands of elephants for their tusks and smuggling sandalwood and ivory worth millions of dollars.

Much of his armory, which included automatic rifles and sophisticated binoculars, was plundered from police units he attacked.

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.

Veerappan at one stage said he wanted to come out of the forests and rejoin his wife and two children in a Tamil Nadu village.

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