The Demon Dacoit

Sara Gogna

The Demon Dacoit

Dacoits had once taken over different parts of India, and their terror loomed over every region. No one dared to enter their territory or even stop while passing. All dacoits were feared by people. One of these notorious dacoits lived in the southern part of India, known as Koose Munisamy Veerappan.

Veerappan and his pride; Source: Postoast

Veerappan was a dacoit unique in his own way. Even though his deeds included maintaining fear amongst people and the areas he had taken over, that was not all. Veerappan was known as the dacoit demon because he had a passion to kill. This passion wasn't just limited to the locals. Many of his targets were celebrities, government officials, and especially, police officers.

Besides killing people, Veerappan dealt with smuggling sandalwood and ivory. As a poacher, he would kill elephants for their tusks, keep his share and smuggle the rest. To give an idea of how many people and animals he killed, the number approximately went up to 184 humans and more than 2000 elephants. The amount of sandalwood and ivory he sold resulted in him obtaining a heavy amount of 16 crores and 143 crores respectively.

Like all human beings, Veerappan wasn’t born evil. His circumstances were such that he chose this path. It was said that he got into being a dacoit when the Pattali Makkal Katchi government party took him in and gave him support in exchange for him to do their dirty work. However, no one really knows what made him walk the road of dacoity. Veerappan was responsible for creating havoc in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala.

Veerappan was born in Tamil Nadu, was married, and had a family. His daughters went to school in Tamil Nadu.

Earlier, when Veerappan wasn't on the radar of the police, he committed his first murder when as a mere 17-year-old teenager. However, what brought him under the radar was when he kidnapped and murdered a forest officer who hailed from Sathyamangalam Taluk. The name of the officer was Chidambaram. Naturally, the police did everything in their power to catch Veerappan. They even put a handsome bounty on his head.

Interestingly, Chidambaram and Veerappan belonged to the same village.

While it would have been wiser for him to stop and go underground, he did the opposite. In fact, Veerappan went on and killed a senior IPS officer, Pandillapalli Srinivas. The crimes just didn't stop after that. It was as if he enjoyed the thrill of killing people, aware that despite being the prime suspect, no one could actually charge him with anything.

Veerappan grabbed everyone’s attention by officially becoming a dacoit in 1991. His notoriety lasted a whole 13 years. In 2004, he met his fate and South India was relieved of his notorious and gruesome acts. On 18 October that year, Veerappan along with three of his goons was assassinated by the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force. The operation as well as the force was led by K Vijayakumar.

The operation to remove Veerappan and stop him from causing any more trouble and hindrances was called Operation Cocoon. It was led with the utmost vigilance by following the dacoit and observing each and every move of his.

Veerappan’s death was referred to as the death of a ‘demon’. With his demise, the unsettling fear was almost gone and people celebrated by bursting firecrackers. While some organisations liken his image to that of Robin Hood, only the locals truly know the gravity of the terror unleashed by Veerappan.