5 min learnThiruvananthapuramUp to date: Aug 29, 2026 01:58 PM IST
On January 21, 1984, Sukumara Kurup allegedly smothered a stranger, put him behind the wheel of his automobile and set it ablaze in a paddy discipline in Alappuzha — all in a bid to safe his appreciable Rs 8 lakh life insurance coverage declare. This week, the case that has eluded the police for years and had even impressed the 2021 Dulquer Salmaan-starrer ‘Kurup’ returned to the limelight after a tv channel claimed he was “sighted” in Brunei.
The information has caught the state dwelling division off guard — it comes at a time when the crime department wing of the police was about to shut the case, assuming that Kurup, who had been in his late 30s on the time of the crime, may need died by now.
For his half, House Minister Ramesh Chennithala instructed the media that the reviews must be checked. “There have been rumours about this. I’ve requested ADGP (crimes) H Venkitesh to probe into the report. The state police will method Interpol to establish the information,” he mentioned.
The Chacko homicide case of 1984
A local of Cheriyandu village in Kerala’s Alappuzha, Kurup labored at a petroleum agency in Abu Dhabi and had been dwelling on a break on the time of the homicide.
On January 21, 1984, Kurup allegedly kidnapped and killed a person known as Okay J Chacko, then 31 years previous, with the assistance of three accomplices — together with his brother-in-law Bhaskara Pillai. The 4 had been scouting for a sufferer who resembled Kurup once they got here throughout Chacko, a consultant of a movie distribution agency who requested them for a raise dwelling. He was married a 12 months earlier and his spouse Santhamma was six months pregnant with their son Jithin, who, alongside along with his mom, continues to be ready for justice.
The gang allegedly kidnapped Chacko, smothered him to dying after which set the automobile, which belonged to Kurup, alight in a discipline in Alappuzha’s Mavelikara police station limits. By the point the police discovered him, the physique was burnt past recognition.
The police probe ultimately discovered a number of clues within the discipline — a matchbox, a rubber glove and a number of footprints — that indicated the presence of different individuals. However the breakthrough was the post-mortem report, which allegedly confirmed that the sufferer had been killed earlier than the automobile was set alight, pointing to the dearth of ash or smoke in his lungs.
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By means of all of it, police believed that the sufferer was Kurup, and a funeral was held for him.
Then got here one other breakthrough: the sufferer was Chacko, who had sought a raise within the automobile to succeed in dwelling.
The hunt
Quickly, police discovered Kurup was alive and had been tenting in Kochi. Additionally they discovered that he had life insurance coverage of Rs 8 lakh.
By the point they caught up, nevertheless, Kurup had fled, though the police quickly arrested his accomplices — brother-in-law Bhaskara Pillai, and two others, Ponnappan and Shahu.
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Whereas Shahu was made an approver within the case, the opposite two had been sentenced to life phrases and had been ultimately launched after finishing their sentences.
In the meantime, the hunt for Kurup continued: different police departments throughout India had been approached, and Interpol was alerted, however these efforts remained unsuccessful.
Then, in 1988, the police discovered what they thought was a reported sighting: a younger nurse from Kurup’s dwelling village Cheriyandu allegedly got here throughout a person who appeared like him at a hospital in Bokaro. The person had reportedly are available complaining of a cardiac ailment and had sought admission underneath the title Joshi. Nonetheless, he was discovered lacking from the hospital.
What the channel confirmed
On Thursday, Malayalam information channel 24News claimed Kurup had been noticed in Brunei. Kurup, the channel claimed, had been residing underneath an “assumed title”, labored within the building sector and saved to himself, however that his “accent” made some Keralites suspect that he was Kurup.
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To corroborate its declare, the channel confirmed a photograph of an previous man they claimed was Kurup, counting on the claims of a former police officer that the case was insufficiently investigated and that the fugitive was alive and was in contact along with his household. The picture of the previous man, whom the TV channel claimed was Kurup, had been extensively circulated.
On Friday, the case took a brand new flip when a household from Thrissur claimed that the individual within the picture that the information channel confirmed was Damodara Menon, a relative who migrated overseas 40 years in the past.
“He’s settled along with his household in Malaysia,” his youthful brother Karunakara Menon mentioned.
A police officer who visited the household in Thrissur additionally confirmed that the person within the picture had prima facie been recognized as Damodara Menon. “He’s now indisposed and allegedly deserted in Brunei. Not too long ago, the Indian Excessive Fee in Brunei took up Menon’s plight with NORKA ROOTS, the Kerala authorities division for non-resident Keralites and sought his intervention.”
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Final month, NORKA introduced the matter to the Kerala authorities’s discover.
