Thiruvananthapuram: Sukumara Kurup, a Gulf Keralite who faked his own death to get an insurance claim payout 22 years ago and went underground, has hit the headlines once again.
Following reports that he has been sighted in Kannur and Kasargode districts in north Kerala, the state police have intensified the hunt for him in the districts and neighbouring States of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Kurup allegedly murdered Chacko, a film representative, as part of faking his own death to claim life insurance money. He had tried to pass off Chacko's body as his own.
Kurup was earlier reported to have been found in several places in north India but investigations made by police found that all such reports were cases of mistaken identity.
The Kerala police, who published an advertisement in a Malayalam daily seeking the whereabouts of a man dressed up as a Sanyasi, received several telephone calls saying that they had cited him near their residences.
At one stage, it seemed that the police would finally get him because computer examination of one of the men suspected to be Kurup was found to be 95 per cent similar.
The Kannur police yesterday said several people suspected to be Kurup were found to be innocent.
For instance, the man found in the Payannur Government Hospital was not Sukumara Kurup, said Thaliparambu DySP Abdul Karim.
