India's most wanted fugitive shot dead in police trap

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2004

MADRAS, India (AFP) — India's most wanted criminal Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, accused of more than 100 murders and on the run for decades, has been shot dead after driving into an elaborate police trap, officials said.

The death of Veerappan, known for his trademark handlebar moustache and said to be around 60 years old, brings to a close the longest manhunt in Indian police history.

The bandit, who leapt to notoriety when he held Indian film star Rajkumar hostage for more than 100 days in 2000, was killed in a forest in southeastern Tamil Nadu state, said Special Task Force (STF) chief K. Vijay Kumar.

He said police, acting on a tip-off, surrounded Veerappan and three associates while they were travelling in an ambulance near Dharmapuri in the west of the...