Detectives were last night hunting India’s most deadly and elusive bandit, Veerappan, after the decomposing body of a senior politician whom he kidnapped several months ago was discovered in the jungle.
Police officers stumbled across the remains of Hannur Nagappa (66) a former state minister, on Sunday deep in the forests of Tamil Nadu, where Veerappan has his hideout. A post mortem yesterday revealed the minister had been shot.
In a tape to the politician’s family Veerappan claimed that his hostage died after police officers trying to rescue him had opened fire. The minister was sitting on a rock when the police stormed their camp, he said.
”He did not move even while I shouted, ‘Sir, escape.’ We tried to save him, but did not succeed. We had to escape and we had to leave him there.”
Veerappan has a reputation as India’s most bloody outlaw, and this case has led to bitter recriminations between the state of Tamil Nadu and its neighbour, Karnataka, both of which failed to rescue him, despite several months of negotiations.
The bandit seized the minister in late August. Since then Veerappan, who has eluded police for more than 15 years despite his instantly recognisable moustache, has moved between camps in the vast Satayamangalam jungle that stretches across both states.
Two years ago he carried out his most audacious kidnapping when he seized the elderly Karnataka film star Rajkumar and kept him prisoner in the jungle for more than three months. Rajkumar was released after officials secretly paid about R8-million in ransom.
It had been widely expected that Veerappan would also eventually free his latest hostage unharmed. It was not clear last night whether the bandit had decided to kill Nagappa, or whether the politician’s death had been an accident.
Tamil Nadu’s elite task force which was tracking Veerappan yesterday denied there had been a shoot-out.
”It doesn’t make any sense. It’s a mystery,” one police source said last night. ”He was on the brink of getting an emissary to come and talk to him about Nagappa’s release,” the source said. ”By killing him he doesn’t get any money.”
The bandit is already wanted for the murders of 138 people, including 32 policemen. During a spectacular criminal career Veerappan has also poached several thousand elephants and run an illegal, and hugely profitable, empire in smuggled sandalwood. – Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001