Operation Cocoon
| Location of Operation Cocoon in Nilgiris | |
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 Location of Operation Cocoon in Nilgiris
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| Coordinates: 11°38′24″N 77°13′34″E / 11.64000°N 77.22611°E |
Operation Cocoon was the operation launched by the Special Task Force of Tamil Nadu Police in 2004 to nab the forest brigand Veerappan and his associates, who were dominant in Sathyamangalam Forest in the border of the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. It finally resulted in the killing of Veerappan.
The operation was headed by the then Additional Director General of Police, K.Vijay Kumar IPS. Veerappan was shot dead in the operation on 18 October 2004 along with three of his associates, Sethukuli Govinda, Chandre Gowda and Sethumani, while four policemen were injured.
Veerappan had defied the state governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Indian Border security paramilitary forces for nearly twenty years, and maintained a small army, which at one point numbered hundreds. He was also wanted for poaching about 2000 elephants and smuggling ivory worth US$2,600,000 and about 10,000 tonnes of sandalwood worth approximately US$22,000,000. He was also wanted for killing approximately 184 people, about half of whom were police officers, including senior police and forest officials.
The joint Special Task Force (STF) operation of Veerappan, constituted in 1991 by the state governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, is considered one of the costliest in Indian history, consuming ₹1 billion over the years.
Veerappan (Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, 18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004), also called "Sandalwood Veerappan", was an Indian bandit (also called a dacoit in India) who was active for years in scrub and forest lands covering about 6,000 km² in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. For over a decade, Veerappan defied the state governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and Indian Border security paramilitary forces, and maintained a small army, which at one point numbered hundreds. He was wanted for killing approximately 184 people, about half of whom were police officers, including senior police and forest officials. During his video interview with Nakkeeran editor R. Gopal, he confessed to the 120 murders he committed. While his initial days of dacoity were restricted to satisfying his financial needs, his later actions included demand of release of militants from jail in exchange of the hostages.
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