THE death of India’s forest-dwelling Bandit King has sparked a sudden gold rush in the dense forests of southern India as hundreds of villagers descended on the former no-go zone to search for the outlaw’s hidden riches.

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, who was killed in a police ambush on Monday night, is said to have amassed billions of rupees over a three-decade-long career in crime. His activities included sandalwood smuggling, ivory poaching and kidnapping for ransom.

Living on the run in the vast Sathyamangalam Forest, he is reported to have buried stashes of cash wrapped in polythene bags and stuffed in tractor tyre tubes all over the area he operated in.

R. R. Gopal, the editor of Nakkeeran, a Tamil-language magazine, interviewed Veerappan several times. He claims to have witnessed the bandit digging up sealed packets of rupee notes from secret pits in the jungle. Few other people have been able to venture into the deepest reaches of the forest for the past 15 years since special task forces in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states launched their manhunt for him, armed with assault rifles and tracking devices.

Now, with the bandit dead, villagers have once again started venturing into the forest, not just to collect wood or graze their cattle, but in the hope of stumbling upon Veerappan’s riches.

“Instead of carrying their usual bamboo sticks and pots of rice gruel, these cowherders and wood-pickers are sneaking into the forest with sickles and crowbars,” a firewood dealer in Salem, close to the jungle, told the Asian Age. “Some are even offering prayers to identify the treasure troves.”

The gold rush has angered the local authorities, which have also vowed to recover the treasure. The forest department issued a stern warning yesterday to local people to keep out of the woods.

“We have seen locals venturing into the forests looking for Veerappan’s money and we have warned them off,” Ravidram, the Salem district administrator, said. “Hopefully they will lose interest soon.”

Police officials scoffed at the villagers’ chances of hitting gold, noting that Veerappan operated far deeper inside the jungle than most villagers are prepared to travel for fear of encountering the wild animals living there.

“It may take seven or eight years for any treasure hunter to stumble upon the Veerappan trove and by then he would be dead,” Pon Manickavel, Salem’s superintendent of police, said.

Yesterday the hunt had been joined by members of the Tamil Nadu special task force that trapped Veerappan. Few know exactly how much cash may be hidden there. Official estimates of the bandit’s wealth vary between 500 million (£6 million) and 50 billion rupees. He is known to have killed more than 2,000 elephants and sold their tusks for ivory.

In three decades, he also smuggled tons of sandalwood out of the forest, earning handsome profits. His kidnapping career proved similarly lucrative, the kidnap of the southern Indian matinee idol Rajkumar netting him a cool 200 million rupees. Other income came from protection rackets.

Living on the run in the forest, he had little to spend his wealth on. His wife confirmed this week that he had paid for her house and a tractor and had left some money for the education of his two daughters. But the family’s lifestyle is anything but extravagant.

Most of his expenditure apparently went to villagers in the areas where he operated whom he showered with gifts in return for loyalty, so earning him his “Robin Hood” reputation.

He funded the building of several village temples and paid the dowries of his supporters’ daughters. Larger sums of money were used to bribe officials and informers.

Those now braving the wild animals of the forests are banking on there being plenty left over.

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