Bengaluru: He terrorised the jungles of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for years before he was shot and killed by the Tamil Nadu special task force in October, 2004. Elephant poacher and forest brigand, Veerappan with his characteristic bushy whiskers, killed several forest officers and kidnapped Kannada movie icon, Rajkumar before his free run in the jungles came to an end.
But the men who hunted for him at great risk to their own lives in Karnataka remain uncrowned heroes with the state government throwing away a list of 250 officers and men prepared by the forest department for suitable compensation, says former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Karnataka, B K Singh. Speaking of the government's scant regard for the forest staff involved in tracking the dreaded bandit, in his book, "Destroy Forests, Destroy Life" Mr Singh says the list of recommendations was tossed between the finance and forest secretariats and despite his request to the then Forest Minister, Ramanath Rai to clear the file it was never done.
