Summary Veerappan had been living in the forest for 30 years. He wanted to go back to his village and even offered to surrender to the Government if they allowed him to spend the last 5 years of his life in his village.

Muthu and Veerappan were connected though audio cassettes. Muthu was under very tight observation after her meeting with Veerappan and was not allowed to go anywhere. In the cassette, Veerappan had expressed his desire to meet his family.

In 2003, Muthu was shifted to Coimbatore and stayed in a 2 storied house with a family living downstairs. The daughter of the owners, Priya, befriended Muthu. Muthu was instructed to give a different name and say that her husband is in Dubai. Muthu told Priya the truth.

Priya expressed her desire to meet Veerappan and she claimed to be a fan. Priya was an informant for Senthamarai Kannan, from the Tamilnadu STF. Senthamarai knew that it was not possible to capture Veerappan inside the forest. His strategy was to lure Veerappan outside the forest. Veerappan had never seen his younger daughter. Senthamarai trained Priya on what to tell Muthu and to give her specific instructions on the meeting location.

The ambush was set. But Priya asked many questions to Muthu as they waited for Veerappan and took her to the forest again and again. Muthu got suspicious and felt that something is wrong. Somehow the message got conveyed to Veerappan who turned away after reaching within 20 kilometers of the meeting location.

By 2004, the STF was very tactical and very ferocious. Crores of public money had been spent and many good officers were already dead. All in the pursuit of one man. Mr Vijay Kumar took command of the STF. Vijay came from the Special Protection group that provided security to the Prime Minister. Vijay corrected the atrocities conducted by the STF in the villages. He planted a lot of sources in the villages. Vijay acted on the intelligence provided by Senthamarai. A local trader had met Veerappan many times. He provided groceries to Veerappan's gang. He decided to cooperate with the Tamilnadu STF as he had seen all other Veerappan collaborators arrested and sometimes killed by the Karnataka STF.

The trader contacted Vijay Kumar. Veerappan wanted the trader to fix him a meeting with Kolathur Mani. Kolathur met Veerappan and could sense that Veerappan was tired from being on the run all the time. Veerappan's eyesight had deteriorated, and he needed eye surgery. He had 70% cataract and could not walk at night. Kolathur convinces Veerappan to come out of the jungle for his surgery. The trader passed this information to Vijay Kumar. Veerappan was also looking for more weapons.

Senthamarai intercepted the gun runner who was going to supply the weapons to Veerappan. STF told the gun runner to supply the weapons but also add that they came from LTTE person in Sri Lanka named Mugilan. Mugilan was a fictional character introduced by Senthamarai to infiltrate Veerappan's inner most circle. Senthamarai acted as Mugilan. The gun runner introduces Veerappan to Senthamarai as Mugilan, a powerful figure in LTTE with direct access to Prabhakaran. For 3-4 months Senthamarai supplied LTTE guns and ammunition to Veerappan. Veerappan expressed his desire to get his eye operated in Sri Lanka. Veerappan wanted to escape India and settle in Sri Lanka.

18th of Oct 2004 is decided as the date to cross the sea into Sri Lanka. On the night of the 18th Oct, Veerappan comes out of the jungle in an ambulance with Senthamarai. An ambush takes place and Veerappan is shot dead. Vijay Kumar is celebrated as a hero.

Muthu claims that the Government hid the truth. Veerappan's body had his famous mustache trimmed, which was unthinkable. He has 2 bullet holes in his head, while the entire ambulance was peppered with bullets. Veerappan's body was only displayed from the head up. So, Muthu claims that there was a conspiracy. Senthamarai defends that Veerappan is dead and that STF killed him. The details don't interest him or Vijay Kumar. Shankar Bidari took full responsibility for his actions and asked every person of the STF under his command to be spared any investigation.

Veerappan was wanted for the killing of 120 people, including 44 police officers. He killed over 1000 elephants and the plundered wealth of sandalwood amounted to Rs 100 Crores. The state governments deployed over 5000 officers and spent over Rs 220 Crores to hunt Veerappan.

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