Operation Cocoon

Operation Cocoon was a police operation conducted in 2004 by the Special Task Force of the Tamil Nadu Police to capture the bandit Veerappan and his associates, who were dominant in Sathyamangalam forests in the border region of the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu , Karnataka and Kerala . Veerappan was wanted for the illegal poaching of Indian elephants , and smuggling of ivory and sandalwood . He had also murdered at least 184 people, most of whom were government officials, and police officers, and evaded arrest for almost two decades. The operation was executed in October 2004 and headed by K. Vijay Kumar , and N. K. Senthamarai Kannan . It ended after Veerappan and three of his associates were shot dead on 18 October 2004. Veerappan (18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004), was an Indian bandit , who was active in the forested area covering about 6,000 km (2,300 sq mi) along the borders of the states of Tamil Nadu , Karnataka and Kerala . He started engaging in criminal activities in the 1970s, and was briefly arrested in 1986. He was wanted for poaching of more than 500 Indian elephants for ivory and illegal logging and trafficking of more than 10,000 tonnes of sandalwood .