Koose Muniswamy Veerappan (c. January 18, 1952–October 18, 2004) was a notorious banit of India. He resided and carried out his activities in the Biligirirangana Betta and Male Mahadeshwara Betta (Hills) and Sathyamangalam and Gundiyal forests, covering 6,000 km² in the states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. He challenged three state governments and the paramilitary force of Indian Border security. He once had a mini army with hundreds of armed members in his gang. He was wanted for killing about 184 people, including senior police and forest officials, poaching about 200 elephants, and smuggling ivory worth US$2,600,000 and sandalwood of about 10,000 tonnes worth US$22,000,000. He had a price of Rs. 50 million (Rs. 5 crore or US$1.1 million) on his head, but evaded arrest for 20 years until he was killed by police in 2004.