These photos throw light on the kind of life Veerapan leads in his forest hideout...»
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Veerappan turned to hostage-taking in December 1994.The first victim was a deputy superintendent of police in Coimbatore district, Chidambaranathan. Veerappan seized him during a visit to his farmhouse in Sirumugai. The compelling reason for this was not just to press for amnesty, which of course Veerappan did, but to get urgent medical aid for his brother Arjunan, who was wounded in an encounter.

Arjunan was allowed to come out, given treatment and detained after the hostage crisis ended with a police raid. Arjunan and two other gang members were reportedly bumped off while being transported to Mysore. The police version is they committed suicide by consuming cyanide.

Veerappan took hostages on two more occasions in 1997 to press for general amnesty, but eventually released them unconditionally and unharmed. The DMK, which was in power from 1996 to 2001, was known for being sympathetic to him but obviously could not give into his demand for amnesty.

Veerappan's pinnacle

It was Dr Rajkumar's abduction in July 2000 which got him national attention. For the first time, it became known that Veerappan had included in his gang members of two dreaded Tamil extremist outfits, the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army and the Tamil National Retrieval Troops, both modeled on the LTTE.

The nexus came to police notice when Veerappan and members of these two gangs launched a joint attack on a police station near Sathyamangalam in December 1998.

But they kept it a closely guarded secret. The nexus came to light when Rajkumar was abducted. Of course Veerappan had to release Rajkumar eventually when it became apparent that the two Governments would resume combing operations. Two major demands put forward by Veerappan concerned the release of five TNLA and TNRT extremists in Tamil Nadu jails and 51 TADA detenus in Mysore jail. The extremists are still in jail. But the TADA detenus have since been released by the Mysore sessions court.

Will he get caught?

Now Veerappan has struck again. Can he ever be caught? The chances are slim. He operates in a 6,000 sq km jungle. His survival instinct is strong. He has been known to be ruthless with his own community if anyone was known to help the police. At the same time, he has been generous with money to those who help him. As a result, he has acquired a Robin Hood image which the police find hard to fight.

While the police have all the latest gadgets, including AK-47 assault rifles and night vision binoculors, Veerappan still carries old hunting rifles. Though in his mid-50s, Veerappan is still physically active. He is constantly on the move, sometimes walking 40 kms a day. The jungle is so thick in some places that the visibility will be hardly 30 ft during daytime. He always pitches camp, for lunch or dinner, at a place which gives him a commanding height.

And finally, his information network has proved to be far more faster and reliable than the police's. He has struck twice in the same place, abducting Nagappa just a little over two years after seizing Rajkumar. And choosing the day when Rajkumar is on a visit to his farm house near Kollegal, the first since his abduction from there, and all police force is concentrated on the actor.

As always with Veerappan, it is a question of chance.