How many ‘Swathi’ murders must Chennai endure? Now, 23-year-old killed by jilted lover

The girl was working in a private dairy in Tambaram, and Prashant is a mechanic in a private automobile dealer in Urapakkam.
The victim Soniya and the accused Prashant | Special arrangement
The victim Soniya and the accused Prashant | Special arrangement

CHENNAI:  She was waiting for her transport home in a public place. A young man approached her and they had an altercation. The man then takes a pen knife out of his pocket and slits the neck of the girl. Chillingly similar to the murder of Infosys techie Swathi, six months earlier at the Nungambakkam railway station.  

This time the victim was a 23-year-old girl and the killer is, again, a jilted lover.

The girl, identified as A Soniya, was waiting at the Perungalathur bus stop at around 6.30 pm on Thursday, when S Prashant, who police said was her estranged lover, confronted her. As they stood there arguing, he took out a pen knife and slit her neck before the others standing in the vicinity could react.

The public rushed Soniya to the nearby government hospital immediately, but doctors there declared her brought dead. Meanwhile, Prashant surrendered himself at the Peerkankaranai police station.

According to police, Prashant and Soniya resided in the same locality in Nedungundram. “The duo was in a relationship for over six years, about which both the families and those in the neighbourhood were aware. But recently, the duo had a fight after Soniya wanted to end the relationship. She started avoiding Prashant since then,” said the investigation officer.

Despite her remaining indifferent to him, Prashant had been trying to convince Soniya for the past couple of months to restart the relationship. She, however, continued to ignore him. On Thursday evening, Prashant apparently spotted Soniya with another youth on a motorbike in Tambaram. “That boy had reportedly picked up Soniya from her office and dropped her at the Tambaram bus stop. She then boarded a bus and got off at Perungalathur. Prashant followed the bus and confronted her at the bus stop. He picked up a fight with Soniya, and allegedly slit her neck in a fit of rage,” said the officer.

The girl was working in a private dairy in Tambaram, and Prashant is a mechanic in a private automobile dealer in Urapakkam.

A case has been registered with the Peerkankaranai police station and further investigations are on.

Recently, on October 28, a 24-year-old girl Sivaranjani, was attacked by Aravindan, whose overtures she had rejected, at Koyambedu bus terminus.

In the most infamous among these incidents, Swathi, an Infosys employee, was hacked to death at Nungambakkam railway station by a jilted lover which sparked a lot outrage in Chennai. Despite the public outrage in the case, all that happened was that a youth named P Ramkumar, whom the police arrested claiming he was the killer, soon ended up dead in what the police said was a suicide.  

Since then Sivaranjani and Soniya — two young women — have had their lives snuffed out by alleged ‘lovers’ whose hatred over being rejected led them to commit the gory crimes. There has been no outrage, and seemingly no end to such cases.

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