Ashok Kumar Doss, superintendent of police, told Press Trust of India here that he along with three Special Task Force personnel were combing Raj Nagar in Pudu Vadavalli area in the forest at 1100 hrs when they saw Veerapan along with a few members of his gang moving a kilometre away.

The police official said though they chased the gang up to a distance of about seven kms, they could not shoot him as the shooting range was only 300 yards and the gang was maintaining a distance of over one km and running in different directions.

Doss said they could not continue the search as he had only three STF personnel with him and it was getting dark in the forest.