Chennai, May 25 (IANS): Forest brigand Veerappan's elder brother Madhaiyan died of a cardiac arrest in Salem Government Hospital on Wednesday early morning.

Madhaiyan was a life convict in a case related to the murder of a forest officer Chidambaram in 1987 and was in Salem central prison for the past 34 years. He suffered a heart attack and was admitted to Salem General Hospital on May 1.

Veerappan was killed on October 18, 2004 by a Special Task Force of the Tamil Nadu Police led by K. Vijayakumar. His accomplices Sethukuli Govindan, Chandre Gowdar, and Sethumani were also killed by the STF at Papparapatti in the Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu.

Notably, Veerappan was a notorious brigand involved in the killing of more than 150 people including forest officers, revenue officers, police officers, and had ambushed and killed 22 policemen in a single mine explosion. He had poached and killed around 2000 elephants and extracted the ivory and sold it.

He was also involved in sandalwood smuggling and police had then recorded that Veerappan had smuggled and sold sandalwood for around Rs 143 crore.