The man who spearheaded the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force (STF) that planned and executed bandit Veerappan's killing during Operation Cocoon has come out with an account of the life and times of the dreaded outlaw.
"Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand" by K Vijay Kumar describes in detail the ruthless killings and high-profile kidnappings masterminded by Veerappan, including the 108-day ordeal involving Kannada superstar Rajkumar.
No other bandit in recent times has captured the public's imagination as much as Koose Munnasamy Veerappan. Be it his trademark moustache, stories of his daring escapades or his ruthless massacre of officers, Veerappan continues to fascinate, even 13 years after his death.
"Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand", published by Rupa, relives the various incidents that shaped Veerappan's life - from his birth in Gopinatham in 1952 to his death in 2004 in the shootout in Padi.
It traces his dramatic rise from a small-time poacher and sandalwood smuggler to a brutal fugitive who held three states to ransom for two decades.
Kumar, who headed CRPF from 2010-2012, is currently serving as Senior Security Adviser in the Home Ministry.
Veerappan, who ruled over forest areas in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala for more than two decades, poached over 200 elephants, smuggled ivory worth hundreds of crore of rupees and killed more than 180 people, mostly police and forest officials.
Another STF innovation, he says, was the use of LCD on caps during night patrol.
"LCDs, available in TV remotes, are invisible to the naked eye, but when seen through night-vision devices, they glow like stars. When the teams maintained strict radio silence at night, this innovation proved crucial in differentiating friend from foe," he says.
According to Kumar, Veerappan's spies, who tracked the movement of any man or beast in their neighborhood, were rattled by STF's new tactics.
"They had never seen so many STF men per square inch. The six-member teams were too small to stage a massive raid, but were big enough to strike into the enemy's comfort zone and wreck his peace of mind," he writes.
The square deployment was done after some incidents of friendly fire and poor communication as many small STF teams were milling around in a small swathe.
"The issue was resolved by extensive training and demarcation of responsibilities. The area was divided into 16 squares of 2 km by 2 km, with a kitchen for every six squares. Each square was allocated to two six-member teams - one on stand-to and the other on standby mode.
"In the STF's long history, teams had never had such small and well-defined turfs. Each team was in constant contact with the others. It was understood that if Veerappan attacked any team, the other 30 would rush in to its aid in overwhelming force," says Kumar.
