May 15, 1952 - Veerappan
Operating across three Indian states for nearly four decades, Veerappan built a criminal enterprise rooted in sandalwood smuggling and elephant poaching before expanding into kidnapping and political extortion. His longevity as a fugitive — and the estimated ₹100 crore spent by two state governments attempting to capture him — reflects both the difficulty of policing India's forested interior and his considerable skill at evasion. The scale of wildlife destruction attributed to him, combined with violent resistance against law enforcement, made his case one of the most sustained manhunts in Indian history.
From Wikipedia
Koose Munisamy Veerappan (18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004) was an Indian poacher, smuggler, domestic terrorist and bandit who was active for 36 years, and kidnapped major politicians for ransom. He was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching of elephants in the scrub lands and forests in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. He was wanted for killing around 184 people, about half of whom were police officers and forest officials. He was also responsible for poaching approximately 500 of the 2,000 elephants killed in the peninsular region where he was active and for smuggling ivory worth US$2.6 million (₹16 crore) and about 65 tons of sandalwood worth approximately US$22 million (₹143 crore).
The battle to capture Veerappan cost the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over ₹100 crore.
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