Fugitive fails to turn up at son's wedding

However, when the younger son of the state’s most famous fugitive tied the knot on Friday, the cops were still in attendance hoping for some miracle. As usual, Kurup was nowhere to be seen.

Sukumara Kurup alias Sukumara Pillai is wanted in connection with the murder of Chacko, who was a film representative, on January 21, 1984. The case against him was that he tried to claim Rs 8 lakh as insurance pay out by faking his own “death”.

He allegedly murdered Chacko who bore a stark physical resemblance to him, burnt the body and tried to pass it off as his own. Two of Kurup’s co-accused—driver Ponnappan and brother-in-law Bhaskar Pillai—have undergone life imprisonment.

A ray of hope had dawned on the cops from the wedding invitation of Kurup’s son Sunit Pillai, who got married at the Sree Vallabha temple in Tiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district.
He was described as the son of “Mr Sukumara Pillai” with no prefix of “late”.  Kurup’s wife Sarasamma, who works in the Gulf, was present at the wedding as was Bhaskar Pillai. The police believe that he may be somewhere in the Gulf. 

ADGP (crime) Vinson M Paul told Deccan Herald that the case was still pending against Kurup and that they were still in pursuit. “We don’t know where he is, but we continue to do our duty,’’ he said.

For over two decades, the police hunt for Kurup had culminated in dead ends. For instance, in June 1998, the police dashed to Mumbai after being tipped off about a man resembling Sukumara Kurup.

The police went to Ramnagar in Gujarat in 2001, and searched north Kerala in 2006 based on similar tip-offs about “sightings”. However, none of these exercises yielded any result.