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Woods are lovely, Veerappan-free
 The woods are lovely, Veerappan-free and deep, says ADGP K Vijaykumar, who spearheaded the Special Task Force (STF) operations against the bandit and his gang, in this exclusive interview to
Chennaionline.
The forests in Sathyamangalam (Tamil Nadu) are now "free and clean", free from poaching, from the extortions, kidnappings and deaths at the hands of the poacher-turned-gangster, thanks to Vijaykumar and the STF band.
Vijaykumar's adaptation of Robert Frost's famous words epitomise this brilliant police officer's attitude to life and his career.
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"I had always wanted to take on Veerappan. It had nothing to do with promotions or rewards.
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I always thought I could get him. It was not something out of bravado or a police instinct.
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It was more of a personal hunch. I thought I could get him. And I wanted to get him.
 "Right from my early days in Tamil Nadu as a member of the police force, I was hoping I would get a chance to do something brave. Whatever and wherever my posting, I was following the developments on the Veerappan front closely, even though I was physically far away," he said.
Vijaykumar joined the police force in 1975 and came to Tamil Nadu in 1977. From 1977 till 1985, for over 8 years, he spent time with Walter Dawaram. "I was inspired by him. As Assistant Superintendent of Police and Joint Superintendent of Police, I had my posting in Dharmapuri and Salem. I used to admire his courage in taking on crime.
"I was given to frank outbursts about the way in which Veerappan was operating. Other officers and staff used to advise me saying, "Why do you bother?" After some time, I would not speak out but inwardly I was hoping that one day I should get a chance to be part of the operations against him."
"I was upset when noted journalist Sekhar Gupta wrote an article that Tamil Nadu policemen were not competent to catch Veerappan, and that they lacked the courage and skill to tackle the menace. I wrote a letter to him stating that the Tamil Nadu police were not incompetent."
"There are lots of officers like me who were courageous and believed in fighting Veerappan and his gang, and who were confident of catching him," he had told Shekhar Gupta then. That was sometime in the year 2000. He was then in Srinagar with the
BSF.
 "The Supreme Court had also made some references to the Tamil Nadu police, wondering if it was ineffective, that the governments could resign instead of yielding to the demands of Veerappan and the extremists with him, or something to that effect. I then badly wanted to prove to the world that the Tamil Nadu police were an effective force and that we could catch Veerappan. However, I was stuck in Srinagar and Delhi but my heart was in Tamil
Nadu."
In January 2001, Vijaykumar came to Tamil Nadu to hand over a batch of BSF men to the state police for the operations against Veerappan. "But I did not go into the forests then. My job was to merely hand them over to the state police."
By May-end 2001, the present Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, wanted Vijaykumar to come back to Tamil Nadu and take part in the operations against Veerappan. "She herself spoke to me over the phone and explained that Mr Dawaram would be overall in-charge of the STF in Tamil Nadu but that I would be his deputy. I was happy to get the chance and eagerly seized the opportunity."
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In the days to come, read on to know from ADGP Vijaykumar the inside story of how he and his men trapped and caught the elusive bandit who posed a challenge to governments, and seemingly defied the police, the STF, the BSF and commandos of the Army as well.
On the mystification of
Veerappan.
His habits, strengths, weaknesses and fears.
And finally, the intricacies of the carefully-laid plan to nab the bandit.
R Rangaraj
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