CHENNAI, April 17 -- India's most notorious poacher and sandalwood smuggler Veerappan is back in Tamil Nadu elections through his wife and daughter who are contesting from different assembly seats on tickets for two regional outfits. The two say they are fighting to restore his "pride" and claim that he was not an individual as he was projected. Veerappan, who belonged to the Vanniyar community, a major influential group in western Tamil Nadu, was killed by the state police in a forest encounter in Papparappati village in Dharmapuri district in October 2004. His daughter Vidha Rani Veerappan, 35, a lawyer, is contesting in the Mettur assembly segment in Salem district as a candidate of the actor-politician Seeman-led Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), two years after making her poll debut in the 2024 elections. According to the Election Commission, Rani secured 107,000 votes. She bagged 28,000 more votes than the party's candidate received in the 2019 elections. Similarly, her mother Muthulakshmi Veerappan is also in the poll fray as a candidate of the Tamil outfit Thamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK) in Krishnagiri assembly constituency. Following her husband's demise, Muthulakshmi Veerappan unsuccessfully contested in 2006 as an independent candidate in the Pennagaram constituency in Dharmapuri district, another Vanniyar community-dominated district.P4...