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Veerappan killed in Operation Cocoon

· Dharmapuri

Veerappan killed in Operation Cocoon
Ministry of Home Affairs, GODL-India · Wikimedia Commons

The forest brigand Veerappan was killed by the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force near Dharmapuri, ending a decades-long manhunt.

Veerappan, wanted for poaching elephants, smuggling sandalwood and killing police officers and forest staff, had evaded the police of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for about two decades. His 2000 kidnapping of the Kannada actor Rajkumar had caused a crisis between the two states. On 18 October 2004 the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force, led by K. Vijay Kumar, killed him and three associates in an ambush near Papparapatti in Dharmapuri district. The operation was named Operation Cocoon.

Related events

  1. 1993

    1. 9 Apr 1993Male Mahadeshwara HillsConflict

      Palar landmine blast by Veerappan's gang

      A landmine attack by the sandalwood smuggler Veerappan near Palar killed 22 members of a police and forest team from Tamil Nadu.

  2. 1997

    1. 1997DharmapuriWelfare

      Mahalir Thittam extends women's self-help groups statewide

      The state funded Mahalir Thittam to form women's self-help groups in all districts, after an IFAD-assisted pilot in Dharmapuri from 1989.

  3. 2000

    1. 30 Jul 2000 to 15 Nov 2000GajanurConflict

      Veerappan kidnaps actor Rajkumar

      Forest brigand Veerappan abducted Kannada film star Rajkumar from Gajanur in Erode district and held him for 108 days.

    2. 2 Feb 2000DharmapuriLaw Justice

      Pleasant Stay verdict and the Dharmapuri bus burning

      Jayalalithaa was sentenced to a year's imprisonment in the Pleasant Stay hotel case; in the violence that followed, three agricultural students were burnt to death in a bus at Dharmapuri.

  4. 2007

    1. 5 Feb 2007KaveriLaw Justice

      Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal final award

      The Cauvery tribunal issued its final award allocating river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry.

  5. 2012

    1. 7 Nov 2012DharmapuriConflict

      Dharmapuri caste violence

      Mobs burned Dalit homes in three villages near Dharmapuri after an inter-caste marriage.

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