Police still clueless on Infosys techie's murderer
CHENNAI: He walked into a busy railway station in the heart of the city and jolted the entire nation by slaying a young woman who was waiting to board a train to go to work. But three days later, all the police have about the killer are a few fingerprints from the blood-stained sickle he left behind and foggy CCTV footage of a suspect walking hurriedly near the Nungambakkam railway station here.
Until Sunday evening, the Railway Police and the Chennai police had questioned more than 100 people — colleagues, friends and relatives of the victim S Swathi, who was working for Infosys. Though it happened in daylight in public view, a senior railway police officer termed it the most challenging case in the last few years as no solid leads seem to be emerging. “The fingerprints do not match with any in police records. So he is a first-time offender,” said a senior police officer. On Sunday, the police found another CCTV footage capturing the movement of the same suspect at Sowrastra Nagar, a residential area near the railway station. But even this footage was too hazy for the police to identify the suspect.
Beyond these little details, the police could not ascertain anything much on the killer. Given the manpower limitation of the Railway Police, the city police too have joined the probe. On Sunday, Choolaimedu police distributed posters of the suspect in the area. “We are especially focusing on house brokers and mansion owners, since they know the floating population better,” said a police officer.
Police are also looking into the call records and social media profile of the victim. Meanwhile, Swathi’s family appealed to the public to provide any clues on the killer to the police and said they too could not identify the suspect. They urged the media not to indulge in character assassination.
State DGP Ashok Kumar and city police commissioner T K Rajendran visited the station around 9 pm on Sunday.