Who is Sukumara Kurup? Here’s why Kerala’s most infamous fugitive is back in the news after four decades | Today’s news
Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said on Friday that he has instructed the state crime branch to verify media reports that wanted fugitive Sukumara Kurup is still alive.
“I have instructed ADGP Venkatesh Crime Branch to investigate. Kerala Police needs to contact Interpol and find out the real truth about the whole matter. What we have so far are just rumours. They are not verified facts,” Chennithala told a section of the Malayalam media a day after citing alleged eyewitnesses and former investigating officers who are said to be living in a foreign country since 91. false identity.
Who is Sukumara Kurup?
Kurup, real name Gopalakrishna Kurup, a former Indian Air Force pilot from Alappuzha, became Kerala’s most wanted fugitive after he and his accomplices murdered a foreigner and burnt his body in his car to fake his accidental death to claim a hefty insurance sum.
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Kurup, who moved to the Middle East after his IAF days and worked as a manager for a marine oil company in Abu Dhabi, had life insurance ₹800,000.
In January 1984, while visiting Keralam, Kurup planned to fake his own death to claim the insurance payout. On 21 January 1984, Kurup and his accomplices, including his brother-in-law and driver, spotted their victim, Chacko, a film actor who had a similar physical appearance.
They offered Chack a lift and once inside the car, they violently drugged, poisoned and strangled him to death before setting the body and the vehicle on fire to make it look like an accident.
While it was initially thought to be an accident, the subsequent investigation revealed the truth of the chilling murder. All the other accused were arrested and convicted, but Kurup has not been seen since his disappearance in 1984.
A crime not to be forgotten
However, his name refused to be erased from Kerala’s collective memory and from time to time people came forward claiming to have seen someone resembling Kurup.
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In 2021, the true crime story reappeared on the silver screen in the Malayalam film Kurup, starring Dulquer Salmaan.
Is Kurup still alive?
The fugitive was thrust back into the spotlight after Ali Akbar, a former crime branch official who investigated the case in 2017, told local media earlier this week that Kurup had been living in Brunei under the false identity of John Menon, who claims to be a Malaysian citizen of Indian origin.
Subsequently, a Malayalam news channel also released what it claims is the latest photograph of Kurup and his alleged hideout in Brunei.
Reacting to the development, Chennithala said that the case is currently being investigated by the crime branch and has been classified as long pending (LP).
He said every effort would be made to establish the facts.
“The crime branch will collect the details and inform us as soon as they receive them,” the minister said.
