Chennai techie murder: Police to conduct identification parade for accused Ramkumar

The Chennai police plans to conduct an identification parade for Ramkumar, the main accused in the murder of 24-year-old S Swathi, at the Puzhal central prison on Monday. The witnesses will have to identify Ramkumar from a group of prisoners, reports The Hindu .

Chennai techie Swathi murder case: Police to conduct identification parade for accused Ramkumar at Puzhal central prison tomorrow

— ANI (@ANI) July 10, 2016

Swathi, who was an Infosys employee, was hacked to death at the Nungambakkam railway station. According to a Firstpost report, Chennai police had released a high-resolution image of the suspect main suspect on 1 July.

The photo released by the cops, was that of a man wearing a blue shirt and black trousers. The 25-member team investigating the case, subsequently questioned more than a hundred people and shortlisted about 20 as probable suspects.

The police looked into Swathi’s call details and text messages and short-listed ‘suspecting’ mobile phones that had been active hours before the murder took place at the railway station.

The police had also recorded the statements of friends and family who had claimed that Swathi had complained of “a person following her all the way from the railway station.”

Some of the fellow passengers had also reported seeing a person, matching the description of the suspect described, regularly visiting the window of the ladies compartment of the train to see her.

On 2 July, the police arrested Ramkumar, a 22-year-old engineering graduate, in Tirunelveli district in southern Tamil Nadu. The man reportedly tried to slash his throat in order to escape arrest.

He was then rushed to a local hospital and given first-aid. Later, he was shifted to a government hospital in Tirunelveli, where the doctors said that his injuries were not serious.

Reports claimed that Ramkumar was friends with Swathi on Facebook. The duo came in touch over the social media site and had exchanged numbers, following which the accused became obsessed with Swathi and started stalking her.

Miffed over Swathi’s refusal, the accused had planned to take her life.

The police officer investigating the case had said that, “Being friends on Facebook doesn’t mean that Swathi approved or encouraged him. She had numerous Facebook friends.”

With inputs from agencies