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The Never Ending Hunt For Veerappan Melvin Durai Melvin Durai is an Indiana-based writer and humorist. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, he grew up in Zambia and moved to the U.S. in the early 1980s. In 1995, while working as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Chambersburg, Pa., he began writing a regular humor column. His weekly column now appears in several newspapers and on a number of Web sites. He also writes a twice-monthly column on Indian and Indian-American issues. He is a diehard fan of the National Football League and also likes to run, lift weights and play soccer, tennis and pool. An award-winning feature writer and aspiring novelist, he plans to publish a collection of his best columns. You can write to him at comments@melvindurai.com To read his older columns, go to http://www.melvindurai.com

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As the CIA doggedly pursues Osama bin Laden, hoping to bring him to justice for the Sept. 11 attacks, Indian authorities are just as determined to capture an outlaw who has eluded them since the Mughal Empire.

But unlike the notorious bin Laden, Koose Muniswamy Veerappan is not holed up in a foreign land, no matter what the people of Karnataka think of Tamil Nadu.

Veerappan is widely considered India's most wanted man, never mind that many awestruck women have bestowed that title on Hrithik Roshan.

The wily bandit, who began his criminal ways as a sandalwood and ivory smuggler before turning to murder and kidnapping, has remained at large in the forests of South India, using camouflage to blend into his surroundings and confound the law. Several years ago, police thought they had finally arrested Veerappan, only to discover that they had handcuffed a tree.

The embarrassed officers immediately released the tree, whereupon it ran off into the forest, laughing with glee. So exasperated were the police that they vowed to never release another tree again.

Over the years, Veerappan's legend has grown as vigorously as his signature moustache, which is so long and bushy, some law enforcement officials suspect that he stores ammunition in it. Perhaps even a few rifles.

One Indian newspaper described Veerappan as "the brigand with the deadly moustache," perhaps because some of his victims were found with what police officials described as "unmistakable moustache wounds." Indeed, Veerappan is believed to spend several hours every week sharpening his whiskers.

As crafty and brazen as Robin Hood, Veerappan never stays in one place very long. He continually walks through the forest, using a pair of bathroom slippers to stay ahead of police. It helps that he travels with a gang of men, all as ruthless as their leader, all equipped with bathroom slippers.

His favorite possession seems to be his radio, which connects him to the outside world and allows him to throw wild parties. Karnataka police almost caught him two years ago when they heard that someone in the forest was dancing to S.P. Balasubramaniam. But when they arrived, all they found was a bunch of slipper prints.

During his many years in the forest, Veerappan has battled dozens of snakes and leeches -- and that's just within his own gang. But surprisingly, despite a hefty reward, no one has turned him over to police, perhaps because many people consider him a folk hero, perhaps because he's as adept with his gun as he is with his moustache.

Veerappan, who see himself as a revolutionary and protector of Tamil rights, gained much of his notoriety a few years ago when he kidnapped Rajkumar, turning millions of Karnataka movie fans into bounty hunters. Nevertheless, Veerappan managed to hold Rajkumar for more than 100 days, then extracted a reported ransom of $6 million, as well as a lifetime supply of bathroom slippers.

Like Osama bin Laden, Veerappan will probably never be caught alive, especially since Indian police have a knack for gunning down bandits. So next time you explore the forests of South India, don't be surprised if you come across a number of bullet holes, most of them wounding innocent trees.

Cartoon Copyright © Sudeep Ross

For an email subscription to Melvin's regular weekly columns (not the ones that appear here), go to www.MelvinDurai.com

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