Despite political divisions between the two States over the Cauvery river water dispute, we could take down forest brigand Veerappan because the Special Task Force (STF) on either side fought unitedly, said K. Vijay Kumar, who led the Tamil Nadu STF and ran Operation Cocoon that ended with the killing of Veerappan in 2004. He was in the city on Friday to release his book ‘Veerappan: Chasing the brigand’.
Mr. Kumar, who recounted the day when Veerappan was encountered, said although they tried they couldn’t nab him alive as he termed the window of opportunity “very small”. “It was like a football team in which I hit the goal, with the team behind me,” he said and acknowledged the contribution of the Karnataka STF in the operation.
Reunion of officers
Friday’s book launch turned into a reunion of key officers from both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu STF. Gopal B. Hosur, who survived an attack, and the family of martyr T. Harikrishna, the officer who was killed by the brigand in 1992, recounted their tale. Veterans of Tamil Nadu STF and Operation Cocoon N.K. Senthamarai Kannan and Saravanan were also present.
It was an emotional moment for former Karnataka STF chief Shankar Bidari as he defended himself and several fellow officers in the State over accusations of alleged excesses during the operations.
“In fact, it was our men who were put through untold miseries. We never conducted any excesses. Armchair commentators do not understand the situation we were in. If we were prone to excesses, we could have killed 500 to 700 people and arrested over a thousand,” an emotionally charged Mr. Bidari said.
He added that even with significant contribution from Mr. Kumar’s book, what was in the public domain of the Veerappan’s story was only 20% and he had details of the remaining 80% that he would soon present in his book.
Mr. Kumar quipped that Mr. Bidari release his book a little later so that it didn’t affect the sales of his ‘Veerappan: Chasing the Brigand’.
