Chennai : Two separate incidents of chilling crimes that saw the death of five women including a young employee of the Information Technology giant Infosys, and a woman and her three daughters, jolted Chennai on Sunday and kept the police on tenterhooks even as citizens intensely debated on social media about law and order.
A 24-year-old techie Swathi, who was dropped at the Nungambakkam railway station by her father, was hacked to death by an unidentified assailant at around 6.45 am even as onlookers froze in fear. The girl was waiting for a train to reach her office in Maraimalai Nagar on the outskirts of Chennai.
According to eyewitnesses, a youth wearing a checked green shirt and trousers with a backpack had met the girl and exchanged some heated words before pulling out a sickle and indiscriminately hacking her.
“The girl bled to death while the assailant vanished in no time. We were too shaken to even act,” said Shankar, a bystander. Even shopkeepers at the station were unable to gather their wits for a while. Swathi’s body lay there for over two hours before it was removed to the Government Hospital in Kilpauk for post-mortem.
Her father Santhana Krishnan, who had dropped her at the station earlier in the day, returned to the same place to identify her body. “We called Santhana Krishnan after seeing the girl’s office identity card lying at the spot,” said a police officer.
Ironically a busy railway station like the Nungambakkam, which is located close to the renowned top ranking Loyola College, did not have a CCTV camera or personnel of the Railway Protection Force. Later in the evening, the police released 1.12 minute footage of the suspect walking in a hurry based on images captured from some commercial establishments from a nearby location. Five special teams have been formed to nab the suspect.
“It is not clear if he was a stalker or had any relationship with the girl,” said a police officer.
In another incident a mother and her three teenage daughters were found murdered in their rented house located on the street behind the Royapettah Police Station in central Chennai. Police said they have secured the woman Pandiselvi’s paramour who has confessed to killing the four women. “They were living in the house for the past four years. The woman’s husband had deserted her and she began living with the accused. He had made advances towards Pandiselvi’s elder daughter, which she objected to. Angered over this he killed the four women,” said a police officer. The women’s bodies were found in a decomposed state. Neighbours had alerted the police after foul smell emanated from the house which was locked from outside.
