The highly anticipated true crime docu-series, ‘The Hunt for Veerappan,’ is set to premiere on OTT soon, offering captivating insights into the life of India’s infamous outlaw. Among the intriguing events it will cover are the tragic murders of Chidambaram and Pandillapalli Srinivas. Today, we take a closer look at who these individuals were.
The ordeal for the villagers began in 1987 when Veerappan ruthlessly killed Chidambaram, a forest official from Tamil Nadu. Three years later, in 1990, he struck again, taking the life of Srinivas, a forest officer from Karnataka. These brutal incidents prompted the respective governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to establish their Special Task Forces, aiming to put an end to the reign of terror.
For 60-year-old Govindamma, the pain was still fresh as she recalled how Veerappan killed her husband, Kottinaicker, for the mere act of traveling in a police jeep to Kolathur. The fear instilled by this incident continued to grip the villagers.
Srinivas held the distinction of being the first and only person to arrest Veerappan back in 1986 when the SAARC Summit was underway in Bengaluru. After the arrest, Veerappan was brought to the Budipadaga Forest Rest House in Chamarajanagar Division for questioning. Based on the valuable information obtained during the interrogation, Srinivas conducted numerous raids on the gang’s hideouts across Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
Veerappan managed to escape custody while Srinivas was away on one of his raids. Though it wasn’t Srinivas’s fault, he couldn’t help but feel responsible for the escape. This sense of responsibility drove him to relentlessly pursue Veerappan, even when he could have opted for less risky postings elsewhere.
After Srinivas was transferred as DCF to Chickmangalur in 1987, he assisted the local administration in investigating the murder of Mr. Chidambaram, the Range Forest Officer in Satyamangalam Range. Srinivas took bold steps, developing a network of informers in Veerappan’s native village, Gopinatham. However, the forest brigand ruthlessly silenced the informers and displayed their severed heads as a gruesome example to the village. Veerappan also distributed part of his ill-gotten wealth among the villagers, further tightening his grip on the area.
Srinivas fell victim to Veerappan’s violence and was murdered in November 1991. In recognition of his exceptional bravery and service, the President of India posthumously honored Srinivas by conferring the Kirti Chakra to his grieving mother in 1992.