Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa honoured the Special Task Force for killing sandalwood smuggler Veerappan, who terrorised Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for 30 years.

STF personnel, including chief K Vijaykumar, W I Dawaram, K Gopalkrishnan, Sanjay Arora, N Tamilselvan, were presented medals, promotions, cash prizes worh Rs 3 lakh and house plots last Saturday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.

In the four-and-a-half hour programme, Jayalalithaa praised the STF men and her government for 'reactivating' the STF. STF chief Vijaykumar thanked his predecessors and the government for their support.

Photograph: DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images