Is Dulquer Salmaan's 'Kurup' a real story? Here's all about Sukumara Kurup & his crime

Movies on crime and criminals have been a part of the film industry for a long time. Many of them have been classics. The latest film to delve into this territory was the Malayalam film, Kurup.

The Dulquer Salmaan-starrer hits theatres on Friday. As the movie was watched by people across the globe, many might be curious to know if the story is fictional or based on a true story. The film is based on Sukumara Kurup and here's all you need to know about it.  

Is Kurup a real story? Here's all you need to know about it

Dulquer Salmaan plays the role of Sukumara Kurup in the movie. The actor termed the story of Kurup as 'India's longest wanted fugitive' story that needs to be told. 

Who was Sukumara Kurup?

Sukunara Kurup said to be around 35 at the time of the crime, has been a fugitive and a wanted criminal for Kerala Police since 1984 for the crime, which got the name 'Chacko murder'. He was accused of killing a man named Chacko, who bore resemblance to him, to pass off as his own death. 

He allegedly committed the crime to fetch the insurance amount, said to be worth Rs 8 crore.  Kurup is said to have thought of the idea after reading about a similar case in Germany. He was known for his lavish lifestyle and considered it when reports of the Gulf company he was working in, laying off employees, while his home was being built in Kerala, surfaced.

The incident took place around January 21-22 in Mavelikara in Kerala 1984. He committed the crime with three others. He got his driver Ponnappan and brother-in-law Bhaskara Pillai, Shahu, his colleague from the Gulf company he was working in, onboard, by offering them a share of the amount.

After initially planning to arrange a corpse from a hospital and then burning it, they finally decide to commit a murder. They stumbled upon Chacko, a film representative, who they felt matched the physical characteristics of Kurup, while he was returning home after watching a movie. They offered him a lift, and in the car, gave him alcohol laced with poison and then strangulated him. They then burnt his body in an Ambassador car. 

Though the police initially claimed that Kurup died in the car fire, the other details, like the presence of poison in his stomach, and the missing complaint filed by Chacko's family then led to the joining of the dots. 

Police, not just in Kerala, but across the country, made attempts to find him after his appearances were reported in various parts. They would probe details when news of his visit, like for a family fuction, would surface. A nurse who treated him once claimed he could not have lived till around age 75, his likely age today. Ponnappan and Bhaskara Pillai, the co-accused in the case, were sentenced to life imprisonment and Shahu turned an approver in the case.

37 years on, there is no information on his whereabouts, though some reports claiming that some lookalikes were spotted in Kerala and other regions had made headlines in mid-2000s. It is stated that he fled abroad after committing the crime and various theories on what he did after that have surfaced, but the Kerala Police records continue to mention him as 'wanted.'