Shooting A Smuggler

HE is known as the sandalwood smuggler and has been eluding the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka police for years . Over Rs 200 crore has been spent by the two states in trying to track him down. So when the elusive and dreaded Veerappan appeared on April 7 on the Tamil satellite channel, Sun TV, in the first episode of a nine-part interview, it took everyone by surprise. The police were the least amused and the Karnataka police obtained a stay order on further telecast of the interview through a court order.

The Sun TV interview was courtesy Nakeeran, the Tamil magazine which has made waves with its periodic interviews with Veerappan. Every picture of the bandit, who has acquired a Robin Hood image has come from Nakeeran. And the video interview, which runs to over nine hours, is the fourth in a series of exclusives from the Tamil magazine.

What has shocked the police is the fact that the interview has details of how he tackled the police raids. He has also revealed the names of politicians and police officials who were involved in sandalwood smuggling. Veerappan has been quoted as saying that he "cut the sandalwood trees while there were other who were involved in the selling of it".

Veerappan has been very vocal in the interviews and the first episode attracted a large viewership. So much so that Sun TV Managing Director Kalanidhi Maran has stated that his channel would telecast the interviews despite the court stay order, since his channel uplinks from Manila where Indian court rulings are not binding. However, R.R. Gopal, the editor of Nakeeran, would rather get an injunction from the court than disobey its directives.

How did Nakeeran hit upon the idea of videotaping Veerappan and how did the team manage to reach the ever-elusive sandalwood poacher? Says Gopal: "The intention was not to package notoriety as a celebrity. Some of his demands are definitely crazy and impractical. Who will pay him Rs 1,000 crore? But I think the Government must talk to him and end the present nightmare. That's the aim of the interview."

Gopal had been planning this interview for the past six months. His correspondent, Sivasubramaniam, who has been meeting Veerappan at regular intervals, underwent a 20-week training in the use of a VHS video camera. Explains Gopal: "We can't send a big crew on such assignments. The team was just Sivasubramanian and one assistant for him."

The method deployed by the Nakeeran team to wrap up its scoop had all the elements of a thriller. The white Ambassador car with the reporter stopped at a pre-determined spot and the crew pretended that their car had broken down. After a two-hour wait, Veerappan's men arrived and escorted the duo into the jungle to their leader.