THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: More than four decades after Sukumara Kurup vanished following one of Kerala’s most notorious murder cases, the Crime Branch is preparing to wind up its investigation into the fugitive, potentially bringing an end to one of the longest manhunts in the state’s history.

The investigation team is expected to submit a report to the Crime Branch chief setting out its findings, following which a final decision on closing the case is likely to be taken after a high-level review.

Investigators reportedly believe Kurup is no longer alive and may have died years ago, possibly from a heart-related illness. The assessment follows decades of searches, reported sightings and attempts to trace him, none of which produced conclusive evidence about his whereabouts.

Kurup has been on the run since 1984 in connection with the murder of N.J. Chacko, a film representative whose charred body was discovered inside a car near Mavelikkara in Kerala’s Alappuzha district.

According to the prosecution case, Kurup and his accomplices allegedly abducted Chacko because of his physical resemblance to Kurup. Chacko was killed and his body placed inside an Ambassador car, which was then set on fire in an attempt to make it appear that Kurup had died in an accident.

Investigators said the elaborate plot was allegedly devised to enable Kurup, who had been working in the Gulf, to fraudulently claim an insurance payout of ₹8 lakh.

Police soon established that the charred body was Chacko’s, but Kurup had disappeared by then. His brother-in-law Bhaskara Pillai and driver Ponnappan were subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment, while another accused, Shahu, turned approver.

What followed was a manhunt spanning more than four decades. Police pursued numerous leads and reported sightings of Kurup in different parts of India and elsewhere, but none resulted in his arrest or conclusively established where he had been living.

The Crime Branch recently revisited the case as part of a review of long-pending investigations. As part of the renewed inquiry, officers recorded a fresh statement from Ratnamma Sivarajan, who had previously claimed she encountered a man she believed to be Kurup while she was a nursing student at Bokaro General Hospital in 1988.

Despite the fresh scrutiny, investigators have reportedly found no evidence to establish that Kurup is still alive or any credible new lead capable of tracing him.

If the Crime Branch approves the closure report, it would effectively draw the curtain on a manhunt that began in 1984, although Kurup was never arrested or brought before a court to face trial.

For more than 40 years, his disappearance and the unanswered questions surrounding his whereabouts have made the Sukumara Kurup case one of the most enduring mysteries in Kerala’s criminal history.