Coimbatore: After being on the run from law for nearly three decades, notorious forest brigand Veerappan was shot dead in a forest last night (Oct 18, 2004) by the Special Task Force (STF) of Tamil Nadu police at a place 150 km from Coimbatore.

57-year-old Veerappan, who had abducted Kannada film icon Rajkumar and held hostage for 100 days in 2000 and killed former Karnataka Minister H Nagappa in 2002, was killed along with three of his associates by a team of STF headed by its chief and Additional Director General of State police Vijaykumar at Papparapatti village in Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri district.

Vijaykumar, who led today's operations against the dreaded sandalwood smuggler, said three Veerappan associates were identified as Sethukuli Govindan, Chandra Gowda and Govindan.