Lessons learned from India's bandit king

[Aidoneus]

Lessons learned from India's bandit king
By Siddharth Srivastava

NEW DELHI - India's most wanted bandit, Veerappan, with a price of more than US$1 million on his head, has been killed by an Indian special task force (STF) - made up of more than 750 specially trained personnel - created with the sole purpose of tracking him down. The STF had been trying unsuccessfully to do just that for more than a decade, while the brigand and his gang traversed in excess of 8,000 square kilometers of dense jungle that borders the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It is estimated that more than $50 million has been spent to bring down Veerappan, the most expensive security operation ever undertaken in India to chase one man.

These efforts have not been without reason. In the course of the two decades that Veerappan ruled the forests, setting up a parallel rule of law, he killed more than 200 people and 2,000 tuskers for ivory and built an empire valued at millions of dollars through sandalwood smuggling. His victims include officers and personnel of the STF and state police, a former minister of the Karnataka government, as well as senior forest officials and villagers he suspected to be informants for the government. He carried out high-profile kidnappings for ransom, one of his victims being famous southern Indian film star Raj Kumar, for whose release he was reportedly paid $1 million.

For a long period Veerappan commanded a virtual army of heavily armed bandits trained to conduct guerrilla attacks and versed with laying mines and using remote-controlled explosive devices. Veerappan himself led a Spartan life and it is believed that he has stashed away his ill-gotten wealth in trenches deep in the forests, which is likely to set off a resident gold hunt.

Veerappan is dead and does not deserve any sympathy or tears given the brutality and ruthlessness with which he killed his victims. He beheaded a senior forest official whom he suspected of flirting with his sister and blew up a police officer after stringing him with live grenades. The bigger question is: Why and how did a bandit with such a gruesome record remain at large for so long, despite every effort to nab him? At 62, the worst of Veerappan was already behind him, with his hold and stature in the forests having already waned considerably.


It is true that the topography in which Veerappan lived is very harsh. Much as it is suspected of Osama bin Laden in western Pakistan and Afghanistan, Veerappan knew the area better than anyone else. He changed hideouts and slipped in and out of the dense jungles with an intricate network of informants keeping him up-to-date about every move by the STF to nab him. However, the story goes much deeper. Nobody doubts that Veerappan survived for so long because he enjoyed the tacit support of the villagers who protected him. By doling out monetary benefits as well as cultivating an image of being benign to the cause of the poor, Veerappan had evolved into a Robin Hood kind of figure who took on the rich and brought re-distributive justice. Veerappan's cult status was further buttressed by a state apparatus that increasingly alienated the local population because of harassment by police on the lookout for any information about the bandit. Thousands were cut off from the forests because of strict enforcement by forest officials and were left with no other means to a livelihood. Many more do not see any escape from the vicious cycle of poverty that envelops their existence. Veerappan provided some respite, even if that meant flirting with greater danger.

--snip--

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FJ21Df02.html

[reorg]

1. this seems to be a big story in South India

see e. g. this long list of articles in The Hindu:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/nic/0033/index.htm




I first read about Indian bandits in the fascinating book "India's bandit queen" by Mala Sen. For me, the most interesting about these bandits is that most of them -- much like Cosa Nostra kingpins -- seem to be connected with certain castes and/or political leaders. Benefits for the latter would include that their re-election can be ensured by terrorising entire villages.

>> ... A few villagers see a "conspiracy" in the killing of Veerappan. "In their impatience for taking revenge on the bandit, who had mercilessly killed several policemen, the STF of either Karnataka or Tamil Nadu could not be relied upon to capture him alive,'' said a villager indicating that he was accepting the official version of Veerappan's gunning down only with a pinch of salt. The villager was quick to recall the mystery over the "suicide'' of Veerappan's brother Arjunan in police custody a couple of years ago.

Probably, it was risky to certain sections to keep Veerappan alive, villagers said. The Vaidyanatha Commission, which is inquiring into the circumstances leading to Nagappa's death in Changadi forests two years ago, is scheduled to submit its report in six months. Many villagers were convinced that a host of politicians and industrialists had patronised and harboured Veerappan in the past 20 years.

Residents of Gopinatham, the dreaded bandit's village situated at the foot of Malai Mahadeshwara Hills, recalled the allegations that late Minister and former MLA from Hanur, Raju Gowda, had links with the bandit. There was the allegation that Veerappan used to campaign for Raju Gowda in the elections. "Many other politicians and bigwigs may have had dealings with Veerappan secretly,'' villagers said. ...

http://www.hindu.com/2004/10/21/stories/2004102108020500.htm