The Hindu : Front Page : Hunt for Sukumara Kurup hots up

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Saturday, May 06, 2006

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Front Page

Hunt for Sukumara Kurup hots up

G. Anand

Suspect left the area after the local police got on to the trail

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Police are once again hot on the trail of Sukumara Kurup. They have got hold of photographs and video clippings that show a 58-year-old man who is suspected to be him, perhaps the most wanted man in Kerala and the first accused in the sensational Chacko murder case of 1984.

However, it was not immediately clear if this was but the latest in a long list of reported sightings of the wily man.

The pictures show a man wearing a white shirt, sporting a luxuriant beard and with the appearance of a mendicant. The suspect is reported to be suffering from asthma and was last seen at certain ashrams and temples in Kannur and Thalassery areas.

The elusive Sukumara Kurup is the target of one of the longest-running police hunts in Kerala and is wanted in connection with the murder of Chacko, who was a film representative. The case against Kurup is that he tried to claim Rs.8 lakh as insurance payout by faking his own `death.' In order to carry out his plan, Kurup allegedly 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.

The latest pictures are reported to have been taken on the sly by a citizen whose interest in Sukumara Kurup was kindled by a television programme on the murder case. He told the local police that a man bearing a striking resemblance to Sukumara Kurup was living on charity in his neighbourhood. According to the police, the suspect left the area after the local police got on to the trail.

Police teams from Alappuzha district, where the murder took place, have been scouring the northern districts of Kerala for the person seen in the photograph for the past five months. Plainclothesmen and undercover teams were sent to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also.

"We are 95 per cent sure that the man in the photograph is Sukumara Kurup. His height and looks match that of the suspect. But it could also be a case of mistaken identity," a senior police officer said.

For 22 years, the hunt for Sukumara Kurup has been one of dead ends and false leads. In 2001, the police went on a wild goose chase to Ramnagar in Gujurat after an Air Force officer working there reported that he had seen a man resembling Sukumara Kurup.

In June 1998, the police searched for Sukumara Kurup in Mumbai based on a letter from a resident who claimed that a person resembling Kurup had been spotted there.

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