Swathi murder accused Ramkumar is dead: Who was he? All you need to know

On June 24, 2016, a young man walked into the Nungambakkam Railway station in Chennai, approached a woman who was waiting for her train to go to work, and then hacked her to death.

The victim, Chennai-based techie Swathi, bled to death on the platform. The police launched a massive manhunt to find the killer.

CCTV footage the police got

In the wee hours of July 2, news broke that an engineering graduate named Ramkumar had been arrested from his home in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. He had also attempted suicide then, but was taken to the hospital where his life was saved.

Ramkumar after his suicide attempt

On September 18, lodged in the Puzhal prison and undergoing trial, he attempted suicide again. Police have confirmed that Ramkumar is dead. His family has since decided to move High Court for a CBI investigation. They have demanded that the case is registered as a murder and that the post mortem should be videographed and conducted by doctors of their choice.The petition has been filed at the Madras High Court and is expected to come up before the judge around 2 pm. The family is expected to reach the morgue on Monday afternoon while the post mortem will take place in the evening.

Ramkumar was a 22-year-old engineer who hailed from Meenakshipuram village in Tenkasi in Tirunelveli.

Ramkumar had studied in a private engineering college in Tirunelveli and then come to Chennai in search for a job. 

Ramkumar lived with his father Paramasivam, mother Pushpam, an agricultural laborer, and two sisters. One of the sisters is a teacher while the other is an engineering student.

He had been living in the AS Mansion at Choolaimedu in Chennai in the months leading to the murder. Mansions are cheap paying guest accommodations. Choolaimedu was the area in which Swathi too was living.

(Building in which Ramkumar lived in Chennai)

Ramkumar lived close to Swathi’s house on Gangai Amman Koil Street. The mansion is located less than a kilometre from her residence. The two streets are diagonally opposite.

TK Rajendran, then Chennai’s Police Commissioner said after Ramkumar was arrested, “Ramkumar had been following Swathi and was interested in her. It was when he realised that she was not reciprocating, that he committed the murder.”