Police still on Sukumara Kurup's trail

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 23. The Crime Branch police is very much on the trail of Sukumara Kurup, the first accused in the sensational Chacko murder case of 1984, and is following up all leads to the notorious criminal, according to the Crime Branch ADGP, Mr. R. S. Mooshahary.

The last incident was that of hunt being launched early last year for the criminal in Ramnagar in Gujarat, on the basis of a tip-off from the Air Force.

An elderly bearded man, attired as a sanyasi, had been detained by Air Force personnel. He had been carrying Rs.80,000 in cash and had spoken Malayalam.

The Crime Branch despatched an official to Ramnagar, but on questioning the man, it was found to be a case of mistaken identity. The man was a resident of Nedumangad here and did not have anything to do with Sukumara Kurup, Mr. Mooshahary said.

Similarly, in June, 1998, the Crime Branch had followed a tip- off that Sukumara Kurup was living in the Thane area of Mumbai. The information had come in the form of a letter to the then Intelligence IGP, Mr. Rajan Medhekar, from a resident of Thane that a person who resembled Sukumara Kurup, had been spotted at nearby Wadhe.

The Crime Branch had despatched two teams to Mumbai to investigate the tip-off. After questioning 50-odd persons who reportedly saw Kurup in Mumbai, the Crime Branch came to the conclusion that the person spotted was actually a confidence trickster, Rajasekharan Thampi, a native of Thonnackal near here.

Sukumara Kurup is being hunted by the State police for the past 17 years in connection with the murder of Chacko, a film representative. The police had earlier received tip-offs from Calcutta, Mumbai, Chennai, etc., but all the trails have so far led to a dead-end.

The case against Kurup is that he tried to swindle insurance money totalling Rs. 8 lakhs by staging his own `death'. In order to carry out his plan, he had murdered Chacko, who bore a resemblance to him, burnt the body and tried to pass it off as his own. Two of Kurup's co-accused are undergoing life imprisonment.

There is legal provision for Kurup to be tried and sentenced whenever he is arrested. The Crime Branch has sent the photographs and case particulars of Sukumara Kurup to Interpol, in case he has left the country.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Toonz plans travelling animation programme
Next     : UGC award for Sanskrit professors