Muthulakshmi is the widow of

Veerappan Koose Munisamy Veerappan (18 January 1952 – 18 October 2004) was an Indian bandit turned domestic terrorist who was active for 36 years, and kidnapped major politicians for ransom. He was charged with sandalwood smuggling and poaching o ...

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

smuggler who was killed by Special Task Force police in 2004. She lived in

Salem, Tamil Nadu Salem (), is a major city in Salem district, located on the banks of Thirumanimutharu river in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Salem is the List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, sixth largest urban agglomeration and metropolitan city in ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. She was born in Neruppore village,

Dharmapuri Dharmapuri is a special grade town in the north western part of Tamil Nadu, India. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Dharmapuri district which is the first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by splitti ...

District to a farming family.

Wife of Veerappan

She married Veerappan in 1990, and lived with him in the forests of the border areas

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. She was arrested several times on charges of aiding and abetting various crimes and murders carried out by Veerappan's gang. The police also charged that Veerappan gave Muthulakshmi a large amount of money after he reportedly received ransom money for his role in Kannada actor Rajkumar's kidnapping.

Arrests

Five charges were laid against Muthulakshmi, including: killing police personnel in the

Palar blast The Palar Blast was a landmine attack on 9 April 1993 in Karnataka, India. The attack, organized by the forest brigand Veerappan, killed 22 people, making it the deadliest explosive attack in Karnataka during the 20th century. Background The san ...

, killing elephants, and smuggling sandalwood between 1991 and 1993. She was also arrested for kidnapping Rajkumar alongside Veerappan (he was released after 108 days). In spite of the efforts of the police, they were unable to apprehend Veerappan. Muthulakshmi was acquitted along with 10 others; however, 13 of her relatives were convicted. Muthulakshmi was acquitted of almost all charges registered against her.

Personal life

Muthulakshmi has two daughters, Vidyarani and Prabha Vijayalakshmi, who are studying engineering in Tamil Nadu. After her acquittal announced she would be undertaking social service activities to help people and those who were affected by law enforcement agencies for helping Veerappan. She filed a case against filmmaker A.M.R. Ramesh for showing her slain husband poorly in his film, ''

Attahasa ''Attahasa'' () is a 2013 Indian Kannada-language biographical film directed by A. M. R. Ramesh, based on the notorious forest brigand Veerappan. Kishore plays the role of Veerappan in the film, whilst featuring Arjun Sarja and Suresh Oberoi. Af ...

'' and received compensation of ₹25 lakhs before the picture was released.

Political views

Muthulakshmi unsuccessfully ran for Tamil Nadu Assembly elections in 2006, and has political ambitions to make use of her husband's "Robin Hood" image to help people. In January 2018 she announced the formation of 'Mann Kaakkum Veerathamizhar Peramaippu' (Federation of Brave Tamils to protect the Soil) to lobby the government for fresh water to assist agriculture and farmers.

References

{{reflist Living people Tamil activists Year of birth missing (living people)