“Sukumara Kurup is alive. The picture on screen was taken in 2023. Kerala Police, do not close the file on Sukumara Kurup.”

This was the startling announcement made by the anchor of Malayalam news channel 24 News on August 27, as bold straps flashing across the screen declared, “He is still alive.”

During the slow news cycle of Onam week, when other channels were airing pre-recorded interviews and festival-related content, 24 News came up with what it called an “international exclusive”. 

The channel claimed it had traced Kurup, a man who has been on the run since January 1984 after the murder of film representative NJ Chacko. For more than four decades, Kerala has remained fascinated by Kurup, one of the country’s longest-absconding fugitives. Perhaps the fascination stems from the nature of the crime itself, something virtually unheard of at the time. Kurup faked his own death to fraudulently claim an insurance payout and, in his place, left the charred body of Chacko.

At least three Malayalam films have been made about him, while news organisations have kept the story alive by........

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