Excerpt from TOI news story:
"Veerappan, India's most wanted and most elusive brigand who murdered with impunity, was finally shot dead in his jungle hideout by elite commandos using some of the very tactics he employed for well over two decades to build a vast criminal empire"
Veerappan has been a household name for all those who hail from South India or have stayed there for any length of time. When I had moved to Banagalore in early 1990, I was used to be amazed by news stories on how Veerappan managed to thwart all attempts to capture him for past fifteen years! I just couldn't imagine someone being elusive for those many years. However, with time, I got used to Veerappan stories. At one point in time, army was called-in to catch or shoot him. But to no avail. And all along he continued murdering police men with impunity.
"Veerappan has been caught" used to be standard April 1 news item, causing great consternation among any group of audience, even if momentarily. In fact, once even a leading news paper came out with this news item with a photo of Verrappan in hand cuffs, only to deny next day that the person in photo was a Veerappan look-alike and the news item was a Aprill-fool joke.
Now, after full 30 years of active pursuit, Veerappan has been shot.