One of Tamil Nadu’s most wanted men, whose surrender today could have a significant impact on the Kanchi Shankaracharya’s future, is a don unlike many others. Senior policemen in Chennai, who known him from those rare occasions when he was caught on the wrong foot, say the suave, softspoken Krishnaswami, alias Appu, can’t be stereotyped. A cover photograph of a leading Tamil magazine recently showed him as a humble devotee, engrossed in the ritual padapuja of the Sankaracharya. A mutt devotee even recalls him talking ‘‘about his son researching in the US.’’ Appu had been on the run after the police named him the second accused, after Jayendra Saraswati, in the Sankararaman murder. But few Chennaiites had heard of this man even before the killing’s fallouts made headlines. Born in a lower middle-class family, Appu’s father Gopal Naidu had left his village near Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh to make Chennai his home. A withdrawn and slightly built lad then, Appu’s early neighbours in one of Chennai’s suburbs recall how he used to spend hours at gyms, desperately hoping to get some respect. Appu dropped out of Class XI, after he began getting in and out of trouble and idled for a few listless years, before turning to petty crime. But his ‘career’ began to take off only after he got involved in sandalwood smuggling. Appu operated from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu forests. He hasn’t looked back since. ‘‘He now fully or partly owns eight to 10 large units processing sandalwood on the sly. Some are in Palakkad in Kerala, managed by people considered to be connected to a powerful Kerala minister,’’ say police sources. Appu got into granite quarry contracting and real estate in 1995, using his by-now substantial connections. Soon, he was close to an array of Tamil Nadu’s political heavyweights, notably a former DMK minister. Appu was often their source of men and material for the occasional dirty work. As his connections grew, Appu diversified into other areas. For one, prime land and property in the heart of Chennai. ‘‘He is involved in at least a dozen cases where his thugs muscled in to take over land and buildings,” a police source said. Eviction was another of his core competencies. His services were eagerly sought in Chennai to get stubborn tenants, defaulters and others muscled out of buildings. This worked well, except in 1999, when the police got wise and hauled him up under the Goondas Act. But Appu got some of the state’s best lawyers appear for him and was soon out of jail. By this time, Appu was maintaining one of Chennai’s most notorious collection of hitmen. A source said, ‘‘He would usually go to great lengths to gain the confidence and support of potential rivals rather than take them on.’’ Sources say it has not been long since Appu came into contact with the mutt. Appu had been close to a building contractor, Ravi Subramaniam, who had become close to the mutt. Soon, the don was frequenting the mutt, and is said to have had gained the pontiff’s friendship.
