About
Infamous domestic terrorist from India, known for numerous heinous crimes including: kidnapping and ransom, elephant poaching, and the smuggling of sandalwood from the endangered forests of the southern belt of peninsular India. A truly deplorable criminal, he was wanted for the murder of over 184 people (mostly police officers and forest officials) as well as the slaughter of over 2000 elephants and the pillaging of over 143K lbs of sandalwood. He was killed in 2004 by police after being hunted by the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force.
Before Fame
He was born to a Tamil Vanniyar family and was said to have learned his barbarous trade from his uncle. His first crime was committed when he was ten years old: he nabbed and killed a fellow tusker and also assisted in the murder of three officials that attempted to intervene. His first arrest came in 1972.
Trivia
The special task forced assigned by the Tamil Nadu Police named the investigation that would track him down and eventually end his life as Project Cocoon. It would also result in the death of three of his gang's members and bring injuries to a few officers in the process. It is considered one of the costliest government operations in the history of India, costing officials over 1 billion rupees which converted to well over 12.5M dollars.
Family Life
He was married to Muthulakshm who aided and abetted most of her husband's many criminal affairs as a member of his gang of bandits. They had two daughters together. Muthulaskshm would be killed by the state later that year. Their daughters remained in the region and studied engineering.
Associated With
His kidnapping of famous actor Rajkumar was one of his most prominent crimes. The actor was at a farmhouse retreat upon being kidnapped and Veerappan held the actor for 108 days before releasing him.
