Once upon a time, they went bandit-hunting.

(From Indian Express)

Some were injured. Others were killed. Many simply retired. India's most wanted man has outlived - and outsmarted - all the men who have hunted him. All over Karnataka and Tamil Nadu - even Uttar Pradesh, the homeland of three BSF men killed by Veerappan - you will find bereaved families, memories and retired hunters who can today do little except grieve, express their anger, frustration, even reluctant admiration. There was P. Srinivas, a dedicated forest officer who once told this reporter in 1989 that the key to getting the ghost brigand was to win over the villagers who lived in his thrall thanks to abject poverty. Those tactics did push Veerappan to the wall. Ever trusting, Srinivas was lured into the jungle to discuss surrender terms. He was decapitated and his head sent back as a warning to those who were hunted him. Or Superintendent of Police P. Harikrishna who, meticulously cultivated the villagers as intelligence sources. Veerappan killed him in a jungle ambush and took his AK-47. ''I aimed at his head and hit it with the first shot'', the killer of at least 50 men and three times as many elephants later told Nakkeeran, his favoured Tamil daily. In Mysore, Karnataka, Shakeel Ahmed cannot forget his son, sub-inspector Abdul Kareem, killed in the ambush with Harikrishna. But among the most famous Veerappan-hunters, and one of the first tasked for this purpose, is 'Rambo Gopalakrishnan. The former body-builder, commando and Superintendent of Police can't be found at his ancestral home in Mettur, Tamil Nadu, just outside Veerappan country. He's in the US for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a landmine ambush nearly a decade ago. Rambo - known as such for his tree-trunk-like biceps - knows the ignominy of losing weapons, highly-trained men and his pride to Veerappan. ''What is he but an illiterate thief? I will get him by next week, I say'', he told this reporter in February 1990 after finding a vast stash of sandalwood. He led a 40-man personally trained commando squad that intended to live off the jungle and think like the enemy. Given to flourishing a 9-mm pistol in one gloved hand and a 9-mm ...