CHENNAI: Taking a dim view of the slow pace of progress in the murder case of Swathi, the IT employee who was hacked to death in broad daylight at the Nungambakkam railway station on Friday, a two-member bench of the Madras High Court issued a two-day ultimatum to the Chennai city police to show progress in the case.
“If we feel there is slackness after two days, we will take suo motu proceedings after the Chief Justice’s concurrence,” the bench consisting of Justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan told public prosecutor S Shanmugavelayutham, who was summoned by the court on Monday.
The bench made the observation citing that no progress had been made even three days after the techie was hacked to death by an unidentified man. The strong observations by the court came on a day of key developments in the case, as the state Director General of Police ordered the transfer of the case from the Railway police to the city police. A special team headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Nungambakkam) KPS Devaraj has been constituted to probe the murder.
In court, the public prosecutor submitted that an official of the Deputy Commissioner rank has been monitoring the investigations and the CB-CID wing of the State police is also assisting in the probe.
The court said it was satisfied with the submissions of the public prosecutor, denying any “rift” between the Railway and the city police, as was reported by some sections of the media. However, the bench wondered why the victim’s body was left unattended in the platform for over two hours. “Why was it lying there like an exhibition for more than two hours? It speaks volumes,” the bench said.