Alappuzha: The Kerala Police is once again after 'India's longest wanted fugitive' Sukumara Kurup over the sensational Chacko Murder case.
The Crime Branch is dusting up the files in pursuit of the man who absconded after the murder of film representative K J Chacko on January 21, 1984. The latest move is in response to an alert by a BEVCO employee that a man in the guise of a Hindu ascetic spotted by him in a travel vlog was likely the wanted man who has become a subject of many local lore in Kerala and lately of a successful thriller film.
Renzi Ismail, the Manager of the Pathanamthitta outlet of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation or BEVCO, approached the Crime Branch recently, claiming that the ascetic he had seen in a travel vlog on Haridwar in December was none other than Sukumara Kurup.
Ismail formally conveyed his doubt to the police and the Chief Minister's Office. Based on this information a search is to be carried out in states outside Kerala. The Crime Brach unit in Alappuzha is handling the case.
The Crime Branch personnel met Ismail on Monday and took his statement.
What lends credence to Ismail's claim is that the person he saw on the vlog recently was the one he had met at a monastery in Gujarat decades ago.
Ismail was a teacher then in Gujarat. The ascetic he met had identified himself as Sankara Giri. Only later after seeing Sukumara Kurup's photographs in the media he realised that it was the notorious criminal.
Ismail had contacted the police then itself, but nothing happened. In the years soon after the Chacko murder the Kerala Police had received innumerable tip-offs claiming Kurup was spotted, but only a few were likely credible.
Kurup, a native of Cheriyanadu, remains a wanted criminal in the police records even now. The cold-blooded murder of film representative K J Chacko, a father-to-be, in a car on a national highway had sent shock waves across Kerala and is discussed even today. In the morning of January 22, 1984, the charred body of Chacko was found in a black Ambassador by a paddy field near Kurup’s house.
Kurup, who allegedly committed the crime to claim Rs 8 lakh insurance amount from his Middle East insurer, is the prime accused in the sensational case.
The hit movie 'Kurup', directed by Srinath Rajendran, which was released in five languages recently, was based on the crime.
