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Sukumara Kurup (alias Sukumara Pillai) (born as P K Gopalakrishna Kurup) is an Indian fugitive and is one of the most-wanted criminals in the Indian state of Kerala. On 21 January 1984, he, along with his brother-in-law Bhaskara Pillai, his driver Ponnappan and his aide Shahu, murdered a man named Chacko in an attempt to fake Kurup's own death and thereby claim a life insurance amount of INR 800,000 (approximately USD 80,000 in 1984). The subterfuge was soon exposed by the police, who arrested Bhaskara Pillai, Ponnappan and Shahu. However, Kurup absconded from the state in the meantime. Notorious for being India's longest wanted fugitive, Kurup has been missing since 1984.
The Chacko murder case is one case that caught the media's attention during the mid-2000s, when there were reports on Sukumara Kurup lookalikes from various parts of India. Since Kurup's remains still remain untraced, it's unclear as to whether he's dead or alive. Victims of his crime believe he could be alive and well in a foreign country based on what the investigating officer wrote while closing the case after 12 years of search (1984 to 1996): Kurup had fled from the country with the 72 hours head start he got and with possible help from political allies because after the murder came to light, he was able to narrowly escape multiple times from the police.
However, it is believed by police that Kurup was found multiple times in India under the alias Joshi, and may have already died due to severe cardiac issues. Doctors that had attended him made the prognosis in 1990 that his condition was so bad that after fleeing, he could not have survived for long.
In 2016, director Adoor Gopalakrishnan presented another fictional narrative, Pinneyum featuring Dileep and Kavya Madhavan, loosely based on the original incident.
In 2021, Srinath Rajendran directed a crime thriller biopic, Kurup, revolving around Sukumara Kurup. This fictional film stars Dulquer Salmaan as Sudhakara Kurup, Tovino Thomas as the victim (Charlie), and is told from the perspective of investigative officer S.P. Krishnadas I.P.S, a character inspired by the real investigator S.P. Haridas I.P.S played by Indrajith Sukumaran.
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