Thiruvananthapuram, August 28, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has directed the Crime Branch to verify reports that the state’s most wanted fugitive, Sukumara Kurup, may be alive in Brunei under an assumed identity, while stressing that the claims circulating in the media are yet to be established.
The Kerala Police have also approached Interpol to verify the authenticity of the reports.
Chennithala said the Crime Branch ADGP had been instructed to investigate the claims and establish the facts. Responding to allegations that a report related to the case had been suppressed, he said the matter dated back to the tenure of former state Home Minister Vayalar Ravi and questioned why anything would have been kept hidden for so many years.
The development follows reports that an elderly man resembling Kurup has allegedly been traced to Brunei, where he is said to be living under a false identity near the Malaysia-Brunei border and working in the construction sector. The reports also claimed that the man remained in contact with his family in Kerala.
However, police officials said they had not independently received any information confirming the claims. Checks among members of the Malayali community in Brunei have also raised doubts about the identity of the man seen in the visuals, with one possibility being that he is another person from Thrissur.
The fresh reports have emerged when police were preparing to close their 42-year-old investigation into Kurup’s disappearance. The Crime Branch had reopened the case three months ago as part of an exercise to resolve long-pending investigations.
A special team headed by IG Ajitha Begum had been examining the case and was reportedly inclined to conclude that Kurup was no longer alive.
Kurup disappeared after the sensational murder of Chacko on January 22, 1984, allegedly as part of a conspiracy to fake his own death and claim an insurance payout of around Rs 8 lakh. Chacko, a film representative who resembled Kurup, was allegedly given alcohol, strangled and placed inside a car that was subsequently set on fire.
The post-mortem examination exposed the alleged deception. Police later arrested Kurup’s alleged accomplices, including Bhaskara Pillai, but the alleged mastermind disappeared and has remained absconding ever since.
The latest claims have now prompted authorities to revisit one of Kerala’s most enduring criminal mysteries.
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