Sukumara Kurup has been on the run for 37 years, after faking his death by murdering a man who resembled him. His alleged intention was to commit insurance fraud. Over time, the murder and the vanishing act combined has made him an enigma. Even after all these years, this gulfukaaran (man employed in the Middle East), and his crime continue to haunt popular imagination—stories are still being written about him, and top actors have played him on screen.
THE AMBASSADOR OUTSIDE HARI TALKIES
Around midnight on January 21, 1984. K.J. Chacko, 30, was sipping black tea outside Hari Talkies in Alappuzha when the killers' spotted him. A film representative, Chacko was at the talkies to deliver movie reels. Considering what happened later that night, the movie’s name would prove to be coincidental— Keni (The Trap).
“I was with Chacko till midnight. We both had tea after the second show,” recalls K. Sreekumar, son of the then owner of Hari Talkies. “I had asked him to stay back and leave in the morning. But he had promised to take his pregnant wife to the church feast [the next morning]. After the tea, I bid him goodbye and went inside the theatre. I never saw him again.”
This story is from the May 02, 2021 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the May 02, 2021 edition of THE WEEK.
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