A story of ivory and sandalwood

A few days ago, when passing through the lush green forests of BR Hills, we came across a herd of elephants. A forest official whom we met told us that wildlife in MM Hills- BR Hills area had increased following the death of Veerappan, the forest brigand.

The official claimed that Veerappan killedm ore than 2000 elephants and cut down thousands of sandalwood trees. Though Veerappan is dead and gone, his legend still continues to live on. Many facets of his life still continue to excite curiosity and one such is the number of elephants he killed and the huge amount of money he made out of the sale of elephants tusks and cutting down of sandalwood trees.

Veerappan first attained notority for poaching elephants for ivory and looting forests for sandalwood. Over years, his legend grew and people believed that he killed more than 200 elephants over a 25-year period till his death on October 4, 2004.

However, wildlife experts believe that  actual figures relating to both crimes have been highly overestimated.

The media reports and villagers of scores of Chamarajnagar district where Veerappan often came calling for food and medicines peg the number of elephants that the bandit killed at 2000. This number is the figure of total number of elephants that have been killed in the entire south over several decades and not in Karnataka-Tamil Nadu forests.

More than 95 per cent of the elephants that Veerappan killed were males. Veerappan and his gang members were involved in the killing of a little more than 500 elephants over a 25 year period. Even here, the figure may be a little difficult to arrive at as villagers and even police laid the blame for almost all tusker deaths in Karnataka-Tamil Nadu and Kerala forests to Veerappan.

He mainly operated in the jungles of  Erode, Dharmapuri, Satyamangalam, Chamarajanagar and Kollegal forests and also the forests on the fringes of the Nilgiris. Veerappan rarely if ever went into the jungles of the Western Ghats to poach elephants.

However, there is no doubt that Verappan minted money through sale of ivory and sandalwood. We can arrive at the money Veerappan made if we take the average weight of the tusks of elephants that he killed.

Wildlife expert and renowned scientist Sukumar has said that the mean tusk weight during the late 1970s and early 1980s of a tusker was around 20 kilograms. This weight had dropped to around 10 kilogram an elephant by the late 1980s and this was due to intensive poaching in the area. In 1980, the price of raw ivory in the open market was around Rs.1,300 a kg and in 1989 when the international ban on ivory finally came into effect it stood at  Rs.3,000.

The price of ivory per kilogram was Rs.5,000 in 1995 and by 1996 it was Rs.10,000. Today it hovers around Rs.14,000.

If we take the weight of the tusk of an average elephants to be 15 kgs, the amount of raw ivory that the Veerappan gang would have sawn off if it had poached 500 elephants would be 7,500 kg or a little more. If we take the average price of Rs.3,000 a kilogram, it would mean that Veerappan got Rs.2.25 crores.

Police have definite clues that Veerappan sold most of the ivory he poached to traders in Kerala, from where it found its way to carving centres.

Mind you, Veerappan had to pay off several people, including middlemen and others and thus he would  not have pocked the entire money alone. Since he lived in the forests, his minimum needs would have been really minimum and he would have stashed away a major part of the money even as he purchased arms and ammunition, food and medicines, tents and camp equipments from the rest of the money.

What is generally accepted is that Veerappan killed elephants and stored the ivory and sandalwood in forests of Karnataka. Villagers of  MM Hills mainatin that they had seen Veerappan sitting atop lorries loaded with ivory and sandalwood. They say he personally receoved large amounts of money, while receivers were paid his share of the booty once the illegal sandalwood and ivory reached the buyers. 

So the question now is where is the money that Veerapppan managed to stash away. Is it in the many caves in the MM Hills-Satyamangala area or in his native of Gopinatham. Os is the money in the many underground bunkers he constructed so that he could stash away his loot.    

Care to find out where and Veerappan hid his loot and how he stayed in the forests for decades, eluding the police and forest officials. Take a trip to MM Hills and other areas and engage the locals as guides. They would only be too happy to point out the many areas in the forests associated with the bandit, including some gory spots where he killed and maimed law enforcement officials.

MM Hills-On the trail of a bandit

This is the area made famous or rather infamous by the forest brigand and bandit Veerappan. The area plays host to a variety of flora and fauna and it is located amid dense forests.

There are several temples located within the confines of the forest, which for several years, was deserted by humans for fear of Veerappan. But once Veerappan died, nature lovers, trekkers and wildlife enthusiasts have returned in droves and today it is one of the most popular tourist destinations of Karnataka.

What is more the death of the bandit has also seen a sharp increase in the number of wildlife and trees such as sandalwood which Veerappan targeted. Elephants, wild boars, langurs, all of which were almost hunted to extinction, have once again made a remarkable recovery and today they too seem to be thriving.

The areas where Veerappan located himself in the deep jungles and some of the trails he followed are now tourist attractions and the Forest Department offers tourists a trek on the famed Veerappan trail.

What makes this area so ideal for a family get together today and a superb picnic spot is its nearness to Bangalore and Mysore. While Bangalore is 215 kilometres away, Mysore is about 145 kms and the area is MM Hills.

Located in Chamarajanagar district, Male Mahadeshwara (MM Hills) forest range, was once the very place where Veerappan operated with impunity. It was also here that Veerappan killed elephants and cut a large number of sandalwood trees.

Today, the very same area has recorded an increase in elephant, langur and bear population and al this is documented with the Forest Department. The department has also noticed an increase in number of  sandalwood trees in Ramapura, Changadi and M M Hills adjacent to the Cauvery Wild Life Sanctuary and also in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The M M Hills forest ranges today provide shelter to 167 elephants and a large number of sambar, panthers, leopard, deer, bear and langur.

Langur were hunted by Veerappan and his gang members as they believed that its meat is a good cure for asthma. Veerappan was an asthmatic.

Apart from the Forest Department, the Wildlife Conservation Society carried out a prey census. This would thow further light on the increasing population of wildlife in the forest.

Apart from the death of Veerappan, the rise in tusker population can also be attributed to the strict vigil by the anti-poaching squads. The squad keeps a close watch on wildlife from watch towers in 17 places and 11 anti-poaching camps in Tokere, Nadumallu, Yarkayadu, Huliseppatti, Mulpanchar areas in Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.

The Changadi areas of MM hils and surrounding areas is known for sandalwood and timber. This is the very place where the body of former minister from Karnataka, Nagappa, was found. He had been killed by Veerappan

Apart from trekking, bird watching and photography, you can also visit the many caves in the hill ranges which Veerappan made us of when he was alive. The caves on the now quiet mountain tops offered the brigand a perfect hiding place.

It is in these ranges that Veerappan killed scores of people, including forest officials, police and villagers who he though were police informers.

If you come cross forest officers or local guides, they will point out  the many places where the bandit waylaid the STF team and murdered others. In Sorekaimadu, you can still see some huge pits on the forest road which are the sites where landmines blew up police vehicles in 1993, killing several STF men and maiming for life the then Superintendent of Police, Gopalakrishna.

Nearby this spot is Murugandi halla (nallah) where, on November 10, 1991, DCF Srinivas was shot from behind by Veerappan and beheaded while still alive. If you want to trek, the best route is from the Male Mahadeshwara Temple. Take the road to Nagamale from here which is about 2 kms away. From here, the climb is uphill through the villages of  Tulasikere, Indiganatta, K. Kane, Padsalanatta, Mendere, Nedaganane, Nagamale, Kokware, Toukere and Doddane and by the time you reach the Nagamale temple it will be hours of trekking.

Almost all the villages mentioned above were regular haunts of Veerappan and his gang members.

MM Hills is famous for the temple dedicated to Mahadeshwara,  an incarnation of Shiva. The Hills are surrounded by forests of the Eastern Ghats which is contiguous with the BR Hills Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Forest Department ( Ph:08224-252027 ) has identified many trekking trails and conducts trekking through these forests. The Stanley reservoir at Mettur in Tamil Nadu is just 30 km from here.

The Mahadeshwara temple offers fairly good accommodation. Log on to the temple website for more details.