With fugitive Sukumara Kurup back in the limelight, Keralam Crime Branch head says police will look into latest claims
Kerala authorities are investigating new claims regarding the whereabouts of long-time fugitive Sukumara Kurup after a photograph surfaced in Brunei. Police officials have stated the case will remain open until there is conclusive evidence of his death.
Why it matters
The case is a high-profile criminal mystery in India that has persisted for decades, highlighting challenges in international law enforcement cooperation.
Sukumara Kurup, one of Keralam’s most infamous fugitives whose act of crime has inspired three films in the four decades that he has remained beyond the reach of the police, is back in the news again after the Crime Branch recently took up the Long Pending (LP) case . Even as speculations were rife that the Kerala Police are moving towards closing the case under the assumption that Kurup might no longer be alive, a Malayalam news channel flashed an image of a man in Brunei claiming it to be that of a recent image of Kurup in hiding.
However, on Friday (August 28, 2026), one Karunakaran Menon of Karumathra, near Wadakkanchery, Thrissur, came forward claiming that the photograph being circulated as Kurup’s is actually that of his brother Damodaran Menon , who has been living in Malaysia for nearly three decades.
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