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The police officials received daily reports from
volunteers about Veerappans daily activities. Also it is said that Veerappan was suffering from sight problemsthats when
police decided to act. The volunteers were asked to offer Veerappan, a trip to an eye hospital to get his vision corrected. Veerappan too agreed without much suspicion. The day for
hospital visit was decided to be 18th October 2004, time 10:50 p.m. The STF had already laid a trap on
route Veerappan was to travel while on a trip to
hospital. The volunteers had arranged for an ambulance for Veerappans hospital visitthe ambulance was to be driven by an STF official undercover. As
ambulance neared
trap laid by
STF,
driver of
ambulance hurled a hand grenade into
ambulance before escaping. The STF opened fire on
ambulance without warning, though STF claims that they had asked Veerappan to surrender, but he opened fire and so they had to retaliate. The encounter lasted for 20 minutes and finally Veerappan was dead along with three of his associates. Jubilations prevailed among
STF as they had finally hunted down
hunter.
Is Veerappan really dead?
When Veerappans body was bought to Pappirappatti village large number of villagers gathered around his body. But there was something amisshis trademark handlebar moustache had been trimmed down. Many people who saw Veerappans body claimed that
man dead didnt look like Veerappan. STF Chief and Additional Director General of Police, K Vijaykumar however said, "Veerappan had trimmed his moustache. He was not wearing his traditional green clothes and was dressed in white. DNA tests have not been done yet. But we are sure
man killed is Veerappan.
The villagers werent really happy with Veerappans death because he was like Robinhood for them. He was known for distributing huge amounts of money among
villagers. The National Human Rights Commission has also ordered a probe into
killing of Veerappan and has suggested that a DNA test be carried out as soon as possible.
The treasure hunt begins
Veerappan, during his reign of terror had collected millions of dollars in ransoms and by smuggling ivory and sandalwood. Veerappan has reportedly hid this money into
vast forestland on
Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border by digging up pits, concealing
cash into plastic sheets, and covering
pits with leaves and mud. After
fall of forest brigand,
STF is all set to launch a new operationto unearth
treasure trove of cash and jewellery that
sandalwood smuggler may have left behind. Villagers around
forests too have joined this treasure hunt in expectations of hauling up huge loot from
forests.
Filmmakers throughout India are also keen in cashing in on
brigands deathmy making movies on his life. In fact, a dubbed movie Veerappan starring Kannada star hero Devaraj is being released in Hindi shortly. This action movie released in languages Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil emerged a mega money-spinner and broke all box-office records. However in
film,
climax shows a guy who is caught by
police in
film, turns out to be a deceptive clone, while
brigand keeps evading
police. The Hindu newspaper had reported Veerappan commenting on movies made on him. He had once said, I wish they would look on me differently. I am a human who loves and gets hungry. They make me out as this gangster. But in Hollywood, gangsters make great films. I have seen `The Godfather' a hundred times. That is
kind of film our film-makers should make about me."
One of
top filmmakers in IndiaRam Gopal Verma had recently planned a movie on Veerappan titled Lets Catch Veerappan. The film will now be re-titled as Lets Kill Veerappan.

Chris N. Fernando is a Sr. Staff Writer with Magazine 360 - an IT magazine published by ITNation, Mumbai (India). He has also worked as Technical Editor with Peer Technical Services and as Reporter for PCQuest and Living Digital magazines. He also writes for The Cheers.com.
Get more of him at: www.chrisfernando.tk