12 years on, ex-cop recalls hunting down of Veerappan

NEW DELHI: Almost 12 years after his elimination, the story of the killing of forest brigand Veerappan is being chronicled, none other than by the person who led the operation to hunt him down.
Retired IPS officer K Vijay Kumar is currently writing the nearly 1,000 page book on Veerappan, who had ruled 6,000 sq km forest in three southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala for more than two decades, poached over 200 elephants, smuggled ivory worth crores and killed more than 180 people, mostly police and forest officials.
"It is a first-hand experience book. My aim is to give a clear and correct picture on how Veerapan was killed," said Kumar, currently serving as senior security adviser to the home ministry. Kumar led the Special Task Force which was instrumental in launching 'Operation Cocoon' to capture or kill Veerapan.
Incidentally, a Hindi movie, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, on the life of the bandit and the events leading to his elimination was released only last fortnight. "My book will be the real story. I will not reveal names of a few persons due to security reasons," Kumar said.