Sukumara Kurupe
The National Highway connecting Thiruvananthapuram to Alappuzha was then known as NH 47. At that time a person named Kuttappan Nair had a movie theater called Hari Talkies at Karuwata, six kilometers north of Alappuzha from Haripad, on the right side of the national highway.
Saturday 21 January. Film representative NJ Chacko arrived at the theatre. As his wife was pregnant, Chacko, who thought he would reach home in Alappuzha every day, asked him to keep his film for one more week. Although he had a contract with another film, Kuttapannayar agreed.
After closing the ticket for the second show after ten o’clock at night, Chacko left for Alappuzha. Then Kuttappan Nair’s son Sreekumar was also with him. If you get a bus on the national highway after 8 pm, you can call me lucky. Shrikumar told Chacko that it is enough to go the next day without any trouble. Chacko said that the next day, Sunday, January 22, was the first wedding anniversary, so Arthunkal had to go to the church and only after that he would come to the theater. His six-month pregnant wife and first wedding anniversary prompted Chacko to experiment. I thought that I could show my hand to any carriage. After drinking tea from the shop at Karuwata TB Hospital Junction, the two parted ways.
But Chacko did not reach the theater on Sunday and Monday. Sreekumar, who was then a student of SD College, Alappuzha, came to Kantham’s house in Sanathanam ward on January 24 in search of Chacko. At the same time, Chacko’s brother came to Kuttapannayar’s Karuwata house in search of Chacko. After realizing that 30-year-old Chacko was missing, a complaint was lodged with the police. It may be a coincidence that the movie that was being screened on Hari Talkies that day was called Keni.
The infamous Kurup
The son’s name was Gopalakrishna Pillai, who was born in 1946 to Sivarama Kurup at Putthanveet, Chengannur, Cheryanadu. Both his father’s and mother’s families were economically and socially high-ranking and influential in political bureaucratic levels.
He was tall, handsome and healthy and joined the Medical Corps of the Indian Army after completing his undergraduate degree at Chengannur Christian College. While working in Pune, he fell in love with Sarasamma, a local trainee nurse. The family objected to the relationship as she was the daughter of a maid in his mother’s family. However, Gopalakrishna Pillai married Sarasamma at the temple in Matunga without the knowledge or consent of his family.
At that time, job opportunities in the Gulf were increasing. He planned to go to Gulf with his wife, who is a nurse. So he took leave from the army. Then sank. A report was sent that Gopalakrishna Pillai had died under the influence of an officer of the Special Branch. Later he took a passport in the name of Sukumarakurup. Then he got a job in a marine operating company in Abu Dhabi and changed to a new name ‘Sukumarakurup’.
Sarasamma was also taken there. She got a job as a nurse in a private hospital. It is said that at that time, Kurup and his wife were getting a monthly salary of more than half a lakh rupees in Abu Dhabi.
Kurup, who decided to live away from his relatives as his family was not interested in the marriage, also started construction of a new house in Vandana near Alappuzha Medical College. KLY bought car number 5959 after the construction of the house started. As the motivation of friends to settle down in Alappuzha and start a business became stronger, they became ways to earn money somehow. Kurup came across a report in an English magazine when he was looking for new ways to make money. It was an incident in Germany where a man was killed and set on fire in a car to extort insurance money. As part of this, an insurance policy of three lakh dirhams was taken. In those days it would have cost around thirty lakh rupees.
Kurup told his plan to Shahu, an office boy from Chavakkad who was loyal to the company. Because of his ambition to get his hands on a large amount of this, Shahu assured Kurup. Sarasamma’s brother-in-law also sent a short letter to Bhaskarapillai asking him to buy an old car. So Pillai bought an old Ambassador car for 8000 rupees. KLQ 7831.
Then Kurup and Shahu telegraphed from the country that their mother was seriously ill and reached Thiruvananthapuram in the same flight. Sarasamma and her two children remained in Abu Dhabi.
Makaramasaratri secret plan
The first plan was to organize a body through an acquaintance at Alappuzha Medical College. When he was sure that he would not get the orphaned corpse from the mortuary, he thought of exhuming the corpse from the cemetery, but abandoned that too. On January 21, Kurup again held talks with Shahu and Bhaskarapillai. Kurup then came up with the idea of kidnapping and killing someone. So a fourth person came into the project. Ponnappan, the faithful driver. Ponnappan, who initially refused to commit the murder, was threatened and taken with him. At around 8 pm, after consuming food and alcohol from the hotel in Thottapalli, the four persons left in two cars in search of the victim.
Ponnappan was in the driver’s seat of KLY – 5959 and Bhaskarapillai and Shahu were sitting behind. KLQ – 7831 procured for the project followed shortly. Even after going south on the national highway almost to Ochira, no one was caught. They returned back to Alappuzha. Around midnight, when he was again going from Thotapalli towards Haripad, he saw a six feet tall man waving to vehicles near Karuvata TB Junction.
The victim came looking for a trap
When they saw the man pointing towards the road, the group confirmed one thing. Will fit with height. The car turned towards Alappuzha. Chacko showed his hand at KLY – 5959.
Ponnappan stopped the car.
Bhaskarapillai took him inside saying that he would drop him off at Alappuzha and put him between himself and Shahu. The person in the vehicle introduced himself.
‘I am Chako. The film is representative. Going home in Alappuzha.’
Bhaskarapillai gave Chacko a glass of liquor from a bottle. Chacko said he doesn’t drink and refused. Instead of going straight to Alappuzha, the car turned right a short distance from Thottapalli towards Pallana Road. Chacko said that the route had changed, but Bhaskarapillai said that he had met someone at Pallana and would return soon. Chacko, who objected, was threatened and forced to drink. Chacko lost consciousness when the alcohol mixed with ether entered. Shahu and Bhaskarapillai tied Chacko’s neck with a towel. Death was assured.
After killing Chacko, Sukumarakurup and his team took the body to Smita House, Kurup’s wife’s house, Cherinate, 30 km away. Kurup put his lungi and shirt on the dead body. There, in the bathroom, the face and head of the dead body was doused with petrol and burnt. The dead body was brought to the bank of the field in the trunk of KLY 5959 and placed on the driver’s seat of KLQ 7831. Motionless hands gripped the steering wheel. The seats were punctured and about ten liters of petrol was spilled. Then they took the match and threw it in the car. Even though everything was planned properly, a mistake happened to them. Chacko’s underwear.
Disjointed links
January 22, 1984. In the early hours of the morning, a call came to the Mavelikkara police station. The message was that a car was on fire near Thannimukkam field at Kunnam and the driver was found dead inside.
The information was given by Radhakrishnan Ashari, who lives near the field. The head constable of the station immediately Chengannur DySP P.M. Haridas was informed. When the DySP reached the spot around 5:30 in the morning, the SI and his team were there.
The car was still burning.
The grass and floor on the north side of the road were wet and smelled of petrol. A matchbox full of booty, rubber gloves and a pair of slippers were recovered from there. There were footprints in the field as if someone had run away. A strand of hair was obtained from the glove. The police also collected the underwear of the partially burnt body as a sample.
It was learned that the car was being used by Sukumarakurup, a gulf man. DySP Haridas Bhaskarapillai was called to the station. Bhaskarapillai’s brother-in-law first gave a statement to the police that Sukumarakurup, who had enemies abroad, may have been burnt to death by one of them in the car. Pillai was also the owner of the burnt car.
A person called Sukumarakurup
Police surgeon Dr. B. Umadathan came to do the post mortem. A detailed post-mortem was started on the edge of the field. The whole body is burnt. Bones and teeth examined. The victim was found to be 6 feet tall and 30-35 years old.
By hearing, it resembles Sukumarakurup in body shape, height and fat.
The whole body was full of fuel like petrol and it was a sign of fire. If a moving car catches fire, gasoline does not normally spill onto the driver’s body. The car door was not even locked so that it could not be opened from the inside.
The lungs and trachea were opened and examined. There is no trace of charcoal.
If the driver was alive at the time of the fire, charcoal particles should be present in the lungs. That means the car and the body caught fire after the driver died.
The investigation team came to the conclusion that the driver was placed in the driving seat of the car after his death. When the stomach was examined, the presence of alcohol mixed with strong smell was found.
‘Who was killed?’ Dr. Umadathan asked DySP Haridas.
‘A person who is said to be Sukumarakurup…’
Is it not enough to say that Sukumarakurup was killed? What is the reason for saying ‘so-called’? Umadat has doubts.
Haridas said: ‘There are some doubts. But, evidence must be gathered…’
Sukumarakurup is a long-time highly paid employee in Abu Dhabi. There is great interest in luxury life. Nadu House, construction of a new two-storey house in Alappuzha is in the final stage. A new car has been purchased in addition to the old car that was being driven at the time of the accident. The body was found burnt in the driver’s seat of the car. When taken out, only a small portion of the undercoat remains unburnt. Shoes, watch and ring were not found on the dead body.
Would a luxury-loving Gulf guy like Sukumarakurup go out with a brand new car lying on his porch and drive an old car with no shoes, no tie, no ring, and low-quality underwear? Haridas wanted an answer to this question.
Chicken curry and charcoal bath
Sukumarakurup’s wife’s home, Smitha Bhavan, was under police surveillance. No one in the house was saddened by the death of such a loved one. The police also found that the family had prepared chicken for lunch one day, which was cooked only on special days. The police found charcoal in the bathroom of the house which led to another piece of information.
In case 22/ 84 Bhaskarapillai’s burn
Bhaskarapillai reached the Mavelikkara police station wearing a white shirt and a white shirt. The sleeves of the full-length dress were buttoned down. Bhaskarapillai bowed to Haridas, the investigating officer, without being instructed by anyone, and moved to the corner of the station and crouched down. Common criminals exhibit such body language. Suspicious, Haridas instructed him to slide the sleeves of his shirt up. Both hands are burnt
In a note to a publication, Haridas said: ‘Bhaskarapillai was picked up by Chengannur SI Christibastin in an investigation into the owner of the stolen car. Burns were noticed on his eyelids, eyebrows, arms and thighs. When Bhaskarapillai was asked, he said that the real owner of the car was Sukumarakurup, who is a husband and wife, and that he had not gone to Ambalapuzha with the car the day before, and that he might have died inside the car in an accident.
When asked about the burns on Bhaskarapillai’s body, he said that when the fire was not lit to cool the body, a spark exploded and fell on his face. When it was said that if a spark fell on the thigh and hand, it would not cause burns, the explanation was that while taking hot water with a bowl, it accidentally fell on the hand and foot. As the contradiction in his speech was brought to attention, new stories emerged. One story was that Sukumara Kurup cheated him out of the money he earned working in the Gulf and to settle the feud, he killed Kurup and poured petrol in his car. When Bhaskarapillai, who did not know how to drive, asked how Kurup’s dead body reached Thannimukkam field, when he and Kurup were coming from Vandanam to Mavelikara, he was hit by a car and died. It is clear that what Bhaskarapillai is saying is a lie. When all the lies were dispelled, Bhaskarapillai told the truth.
Superimposition identified with Chaco
It became clear to the police from Bhaskarapillai’s statement that Sukumarakurup was not the one killed. With this, the headache of the police is to find out who was killed. A reply was received from the Haripad police station to inquire whether there was a complaint of missing someone in the last few days. It was a complaint made by the brother of film representative Alappuzha Sanathanam Ward Kanthil that NJ Chacko had not been seen for two days. The police recovered the fallen button, cotton and charred hair from the KLY 5959 car that Ponnappan had brought to Cheryanath. Shantamma, Chacko’s wife, identified the remains, including a half-burnt underwear, from the dead body. After Bhaskarapillai confessed, Chacko’s ring, watch and burnt clothes were found in Ernakulam. That too was recognized by Chacko’s relatives.
The charred hair fibers found in the car and in the bathroom of Smita’s house were identified as Chacko’s through scientific examination. With that, it became clear to the police that it was Chacko who was killed. On February 1, 1984, police surgeon Dr. B. Umadathan conducted a repostmortem and superimposition of the skull proved that it belonged to Chacko. This is the first such case in the country.
It was also found that the hair fibers in the gloves found from the place where the car was burnt belonged to Bhaskarapillai. The police got all the evidence after it became clear that the manuscripts of Alankar Lodge in Aluva, Newlands Lodge in Madras and application for entry permit in Bhutan belonged to Sukumarakurup. Thus the Sukumarakurup murder case became a Chako murder case.
Kurup’s calculations
Most of the relatives thought that Sukumarakurup was killed because they did not know about the conspiracy. After the postmortem, they approached the police demanding that the body be released for cremation.
As there is doubt in the case, the police suggested to put the body in a box and hide it. Sukumarakurup was at Alangar Lodge in Aluva when Bhaskarapillai revealed the truth in police custody.
Sukumarakurup sent Ponnappan, the driver, from Aluva with a car to find out what was going on in the country. Some people tried to assault Kurup, thinking that Ponnappan was behind his death. Ponnappan told his relatives that the dead person was not Kurup, but someone who had been accidentally hit by a car and burnt. The relatives did not report any of this information to the police. But the truth is that the police were not ready to believe that the dead person was not Sukumarakurup.
Ponnappan returned to Aluva with Bhaskarapillai’s cousin Madhusudanan Nair after returning Kurup’s car to Smita Bhavan. Meanwhile Ponnappan called the lodge in Aluva and spoke to Kurup. On the instructions of Kurup, a telegram was sent from the Alappuzha iron bridge post office to the company in Abu Dhabi and Sarasamma that Kurup had been killed in a car accident.
Sukumarakurup came to Mavelikkara railway station on January 23 after hearing that Bhaskarapillai had been taken into police custody. Efforts were made to save Bhaskarapillai by reaching his relative’s house in Erezha. When he realized that he could not influence the police, he reached Mavelikkara railway station in an auto-rickshaw arranged by his relative and boarded the train to Kollam. He took Ponnappan and left for Bhutan from there. Application for entry permit to Bhutan was made in the name of Sukumarakurup Premkumar and Ponnappan Sathyan.
An invisible shortness
After ten days Kurup and Ponnappan returned to Madras. There he took a room in a lodge. Saying that he would go to the country and organize the money, Kurup left Ponnappan there and left for Mavelikara. As the police investigation was intensified, the relative of Mavelikara advised him to go into hiding and he came to the house at Cheri Nath and took the money from his wife and handed it over to Kurup.
Kurup arrived at Kottarakkara railway station with the money. He said that he will go to Pollachi from there. Meanwhile, Ponnappan, tired of waiting for Kurup in Madras, left for his country. While boarding a boat from Changanassery to Alappuzha, Ponnappan was caught by the police when an acquaintance recognized him. Shahu had already been arrested by the police.
From Kottarakkara to Madras, Kurup reached a relative’s house in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh. After staying there for a week, Haridas, the investigating officer, has stated that he went to his relative’s house in Bombay and there he met Zack, who was working in Abu Dhabi. Sukumarakurup had sent a letter home from Bombay. The information in the letter was that he was going to Punjab to look for a job. But, as the letter was destroyed, no further information was received.
Phone calls from Saudi
Kurup has been seen by many people in many places. In many parts of the country and in many parts of Kerala, there have been incidents where the local people and the police detained many people who resemble Kurup and interrogated them for days.
Investigators also believe that he slipped out of custody unexpectedly.
In the year 2008, the crime branch received information that Sukumara Kurup was working in a religious institution in Saudi Arabia. His number was found and put under surveillance. He was in constant contact with the relatives of Sukumarakurup from this phone. It is almost 90 percent sure that the caller is Sukumara Kurup. This information came to a media outlet at a time when they were considering sending an investigative team to Saudi Arabia. With that, the phone calls stopped. That number has also been abandoned. The police never received any helpful information.
The police used to open and read the letters that came home to Kurup and his wife regularly. The phone was also monitored. An agent of the police in the name of an officer of the Coconut Research Center regularly came to the house where Kurup’s wife was staying. The aim was to collect information from relatives. When Kurup’s son’s marriage took place on November 12, 2010 at the Tiruvalla Sri Vallabh Temple, intelligence officials raided the place a week before, expecting Kurup to arrive. It was called Son of Sukumarapilla. The fact that there was no letter after the name (Late) on the card in English raised the hopes of the officials. But they did not catch the huge shark called Kurup.
balance
His wife Santamma was six months pregnant when Chacko was killed. Son Jitin was born without seeing his father’s face. KP Ramachandran Nair, then Alappuzha MLA and Health Minister, intervened and gave Shanthamma a job in the Health Department. She retired in December 2007. Son Jitin got married.
As Sukumarakurup was unable to be arrested, the police filed a charge sheet against Bhaskarapillai, Ponnappan, Sukumarakurup’s wife Sarasamma and sister Thangamani.
Ponnappan and Bhaskarapillai were sentenced to life imprisonment. Sarasamma and Thangamani were acquitted for lack of evidence. Shahu was pardoned from the position of the accused. Bhaskarapillai, who has completed his sentence, is living with his family at his house in Puliyur. Ponnappan died soon after serving his sentence. Sarasamma came home from abroad.
When Sukumarakurup went into hiding, he started building a big house in Vandanam and no one wanted that land.
The unfinished house lies in the jungle and is a haven for anti-socials. The field where the car was found burnt is still there. Nicknamed Chakopadam. Kurup’s wife’s house, Smita Bhavan, is also the same.
Is there a case?
If the accused is not found after 10 years, the case is usually closed. Accordingly, the police closed Kurup’s case. However, it can be reopened at any time. Sukumarakurup has a pending no-bail warrant. Even if they get it, they will be arrested and brought to court. The charge has already been given in the court. ‘Technically the case is not closed, but neither is it on the investigation list’
Golden moments wasted
It is strongly alleged that the police wasted the first three precious days after the body was found inside the car, which helped Sukumarakurup to escape in 1989. Sukumarakurup had visited his relatives in Mavelikara once during those three days and again within a month. Lack of police vigilance and vigilance has been a blemish on the Kerala Police for 37 years.
Where is the short?
Police believe that Kurup was hiding somewhere abroad. In many places in Kerala, people who resemble Sukumarakurup have been caught and interrogated many times by the police and locals.
Teams searched for Kurup in Bhutan, Andaman, Bhopal, Gwalior and Delhi. A monk in the Himalayas was once questioned by the police. The police came to the hospital in Bihar thinking that Joshi was a black man. Police went to Andaman and Gulf several times. The police and the Malayalis searched for Kurup on the streets of Mumbai, among the monks in Haridwar and among the orphans arriving at the hospital.
16/89 file of Crime Branch as ‘long pending’ since 1989 in connection with this case.
Dr. who was the director of the State Forensic Laboratory. If Muralikrishna’s notes are to be believed, it is unlikely that Sukumarakurup is alive today: ‘Even today no one knows where Sukumarakurup is. The last information about him was a phone call from a nurse who said he was in a hospital in Uttar Pradesh. Everything that came after that was just gossip. He even said that he was in Saudi. Others joined the LTTE. It is certain. It is unlikely that Sukumarakurup is alive today.
He is a person who suffered cardiac arrest twice. After examining the medical records of the hospital in Uttar Pradesh, it was confirmed that Kurup was seriously ill. I examined more than 25 dead bodies to identify if they were black. His health condition does not allow him to run and hide without rest. I still have a sample of Kurup’s hair. “Many other hair samples were examined,” says a note written by Dr. Muralikrishna 15 years ago.
If Sukumarakurup was alive today, he would be 75 years old.
The elusive hero
Sukumarakurup’s life has already inspired many movies, stories and novels. In May 1984, within four months of the murder, the film ‘NH 47’ directed by Baby was released. In it, TG Ravi played the role of Sudhakaran Pillai, reminiscent of Sukumarakurup. Later, Adoor Gopalakrishnan made a film ‘Pinnee’ by developing some aspects of this incident. But Adoor Gopalakrishnan clarified that his film has nothing to do with the story of Sukumarakurup and that I have made a film based on that incident.
After 37 years, the Sukumar Kurup and Chacko murder case is again in the news for the film ‘Kurup’ directed by Srinath Rajendran starring Dulquer Salmaan in the lead role. According to the makers, the movie is ‘India’s biggest undercover story’.
The release of the film is on November 12. It can only be a coincidence that Kurup’s son Suneet’s wedding anniversary is on that day.
