Veerappan's signature tune was sending tape-recorded messages to the government, which he did on many memorable occasions—there was one containing his demands when he was seeking amnesty for himself; another after kidnapping Kannada actor Rajkumar (whom he released after apparently receiving an obscene ransom amount), and yet another after he abducted former Karnataka minister H. Nagappa (who was tragically found dead about three months after he was kidnapped). On display in a showcase is the dinky Cassio recorder he used. There's also the map he always carried, though he was credited with knowing the forest like the back of his hand. And then there is what looks like a hearing aid—a surprise to most viewers. His widow Muthulakshmi has rubbished the object, saying, "My husband never wore a hearing aid". But according to assistant commissioner of police (traffic investigation wing) Mohan Singh, who was with the STF, Veerappan used it as an earphone to listen to the news on his radio.
His medical kit included surgical spirit, gauze, sutures for all the collateral damage he and his men faced, with the STF on their heels. Then there are the more banal but essential items of his daily life that the police recovered—an aluminium vessel and strainer in which he apparently brewed tea, a vegetable peeler and packets of unopened branded rasam powder. Evidence of his ruthlessness is also on display—a machete, a silver-handled khukri, an aveech araval (a kind of sword) and an axe. It was no secret that he was religious, so his constant travelling companions included a copy of the Ramayana in Kannada and vibhuti (holy ash).
The police, aware of the popular admiration Veerappan still evokes, want people to recognise he was no hero but a cold-blooded killer. So the exhibition also has some stomach-churning pictures of over 120 of his victims from the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka police and forest departments and the BSF, as well as some informers. Veerappan's stomping ground was the Satyamangalam forests, all 6,000 sq km of it, in both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where for 20 years he went about smuggling sandalwood, poaching ivory and killing anyone who got in the way. "He was the worst criminal, and killing him is something we can brag about. That's why we decided to have the exhibition," says Murugaswamy, additional superintendent of police (crime), Namakkal.
An example of the "bragging" is an intricately constructed model of Operation Cocoon, showing how nemesis caught up with Veerappan and his three associates in October 2004. There's even a picture of K. Vijaykumar, who headed the STF then and is now an additional director general of police, presiding proudly over the model.
The model of Operation Cocoon
The government exhibition, which tours the state, is drawing huge crowds from the surrounding towns and villages, and is expected to net Rs 30 lakh in Salem alone through entrance fees, pegged at Rs 5 for adults and Rs 3 for children—a significant increase over the previous exhibition held in 2005. Police manning the Veerappan stall admit that there is a special buzz about this year's exhibition because of the Veerappan factor, and that crowds linger in awe over his memorabilia. "They just don't see him as a villain," observes a policeman. Geetha, a housewife, from Ayodhyapattinam, a village ten km away, is definitely a Veerappan "groupie". She came to the Veerappan stall with her 15-year-old son. "I don't care what the police say, to me Veerappan will always be a man who donated everything and kept nothing. To me, he is a hero." A sentiment that ties in with reports of people crowding his memorial at Moolakkadu near Mettur, or the attempt to instal his idol near Dharmapuri.
The brigand's wife Muthulakshmi has not turned up at the Veerappan stall. "I haven't gone to see the exhibition," she says, and refuses to respond to reports that some of the memorabilia on display have been "manufactured" by the police. Muthulakshmi claims that she is now working for the welfare of tribals in the area. But she's also doing her bit to keep the Veerappan myth alive—she recently met filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma, and gave him the green signal for a biopic he is planning on the brigand. Perhaps Gabbar Singh as the iconic screen villain will finally meet his match.
