Cops arrest Swathi killer in Tirunelveli, he attempts suicide

Chennai: Software engineer S Swathi's killer, a 24-year-old engineering graduate, was arrested from his native place of Sengottai in T...

Chennai: Software engineer S Swathi's killer, a 24-year-old engineering graduate, was arrested from his native place of Sengottai in Tirunelveli late on Friday night, city police said. Swathi, an employee of Infosys, was hacked to death around 6.45am at Nungambakkam railway station on June 24.


Additional commissioner of police K Shankar told TOI that P Ramkumar, the accused, tried to kill himself by slitting his throat when the police team surrounded the house in Meenakshipuram village where he was hiding.

Ramkumar, who moved to Chennai three months ago, was living in a rented house in Choolaimedu in Swathi's neighbourhood.

Police confirmed that it was Ramkumar who was caught on a CCTV camera near the Nungambakkam railway station soon after the murder.



While the motive and other details were not available till 1.30am on Saturday, the additional commissioner said they had reasons to believe that he was stalking Swathi. "It appears that he had developed an infatuation for her," he said.

Police officers said Ramkumar could not speak much as he was undergoing treatment after he tried to slit his throat. Soon after the murder last Friday, the railway police followed by the city police made detailed inquiries with residents of Choolaimedu. During this, they learned that Ramkumar had gone missing from his rented house soon after the murder. This led police to suspect him.