Max Neuhaus

Indian journalist Raghuram takes readers into the jungle on the trail of a homegrown villain-or hero, depending on your point of view. At 54, Koose Muniswamy Veerappan boasts responsibility for a staggering array of crimes, from the simply antisocial to the truly violent. He has illegally logged sandalwood and poached elephants; committed armed robberies and kidnappings; and he has murdered at least 119 individuals, including 10 forest rangers and 32 police officers, in two Indian states. For all that, writes Raghuram, Veerappan has yet to be brought to justice. He is well sheltered, it seems, by both the rainforests of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and by the local people; every time the SWAT team gets close, cops die in a hail of bullets and bombs. His elusiveness applies to journalists as well: Veerappan has rarely made himself available to reporters, although Raghuram draws on the work of two who managed to interview the arch-criminal in the mid-'80s. (They revealed that the local government went after Veerappan only when he stopped bribing officials.) Raghuram does plenty of on-the-ground reporting himself, traveling into the forest to talk with locals who view Veerappan as either a blessing or a curse. The bandit leader revealed himself to be something of both when, in July 2000, he kidnapped Kannada cinema's greatest icon, the actor Rajkumar, who had recently played a cop intent on eradicating the drug trade. Instead of seeking loot for himself, Veerappan made ten demands of a clearly political nature, including the release of impounded water to Tamil villagers and the payment of millions of rupees to the families of those raped, beaten, or murdered by police agents trying to smoke Veerappan out of hiding. So perhaps the outlaw is more Pretty Boy Floyd than Charlie Manson. Or perhaps not. Complicated, not always easy to follow, but a satisfying cross-cultural excursion for true-crime buffs. (Kirkus Reviews)