The deed was done 2 days ago, and almost the entire country is relieved. Veerappan was gunned down, shot at point blank range: in the head.

Good riddance to bad rubbish. He deserved the manner in which he died.

You certainly feel sorry for his wife, but that’s that. The media has got new fodder to boost circulation figures. Indeed, every other Veerappan-dedicated news item is authored in a thrilleresque manner.

Veerappan was renowned for his cruelty. He is said to have strangled his own new-born daughter because he was enraged at having a third girl in a row without a son. Veerappan was bad to the bone.

Ad nauseam. Not to be outdone, the skeptics are already in full steam. They unearth new conspiracy theories, try to find connections where none exist…. But that is beside the point. Their main concern happens to be this: Veerappan was supposedly apprehended much earlier, then tortured and killed in cold blood. Some official versions maintain that gunfire was exchanged for about 30 minutes before he was killed while they refuse to reveal some “sensitive information,” implying that there’s more than what meets the eye, which boosts the skeptics’ suspicions that all was not fair.

Veerappan’s widow, Muthulakshmi, and his lawyer [who also happens to be a "human rights activist" (very fashionable profession indeed)], now want to petition the Human Rights Commission to probe the alleged, cold-blooded manner in which Veerappan was murdered. Among the worthies who express sympathy for Veerappan, one name figures prominently: Kolathur Mani, a man who is (in)famous for his links with the LTTE; also famous for some real shady “negotiations” in the Rajkumar affair.

Is this a calculated move to make a hero out of the bandit? When he was alive, Veerappan had become a legend of sorts, on the lines of Robin Hood. I have no sympathy or feeling for a bandit who killed more than 2000 elephants, butchered over a 100 men… and then used the ill-gotten money to help poor villagers. The basic fact shouldn’t be forgotten: that he was a inflexible criminal and a ruthless murderer. No feel-good statements can bring back to life all the dead policemen and other innocent people.

Why didn’t anyone petition the HRC when Veerappan killed these innocent people? Moreover, Veerappan was wanted dead or alive. So there. Why crib about it when you anyway know the fate he would eventually meet? I won’t bring in the needless, unnecessary point about the political patronage he enjoyed in order to have survived so long. Things certainly would’ve been different if he was caught alive–politicians exposed, big names scandalized…. the whole drag. Even if the links were exposed, it would hardly make a difference to millions of Indians who are anyway now immune to corruption and crime in high places. Point in question: The Telgi affair, which political pandits have beaten analyzed to death. Yet, the Congress-NCP combine has returned to power in Maharashtra.

Veerappan deserves no sympathy. Ask all those elephants he killed in cold blood. Or the families of the people he killed. And chuck out the champions of Human Rights, who campaign in favour of criminals.