Sathish, who was accused of murdering 20-year-old college student Sathya Priya in Chennai, was remanded to 14 days of judicial custody on Friday, October 14. He will remain in custody till October 28. Sathish, who absconded from the spot after he pushed Sathya Priya in front of a moving train at the St Thomas Mount railway station, was arrested early hours of October 14 in Thoraipakkam. Mambalam police presented him before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Saidapet, which remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody to further investigate the murder.
Sathya Priya knew Sathish for many years as they lived in the same neighbourhood in Guindy. Sathish is the son of retired Special Sub Inspector (SSI), who worked at the Adambakkam police station. Sathya’s mother was a Head Constable at the same police station.
He had been stalking Sathya Priya for a year, and her family even approached the police over this. On May 20, 2022, Sathya’s mother Ramalakshmi filed a complaint at the Mambalam police station, alleging that Sathish had an argument with her daughter outside her college. On May 23, the police registered an FIR and booked Sathish under section 75 of Tamil Nadu City Police Act,1888 – penalty for drunkenness or riotous or indecent behaviour in public place. Sathish was arrested but granted station bail the same day. Sathish was not booked for stalking or harassment.
Two days later, Ramalakshmi filed another complaint at the St Thomas Mount railway station against Sathish. Sources told TNM that the police asked both families to appear for an inquiry. However, a ‘compromise’ was struck and no FIR was registered. Ramalakshmi was made to give in writing that she didn’t want to proceed further with the complaint.
Despite the complaints against him and the police’s ‘compromise’, Sathish did not stop harassing Sathya. Sources tell TNM that Sathish had instead taken to stalking Sathya wherever she went. Questions are now being raised as to why no case of stalking or harassment was filed against Sathish.
On October 13, he tracked her down in St. Thomas Mount railway station where he engaged in an argument with her before he pushed her on the moving electric train which was en route to Beach station at around 1 pm. The Railway Police later arrived at the spot and retrieved Sathya’s body from the tracks. The body was then sent for a post-mortem examination. Sathish, who reportedly escaped from the spot, was wandering around Thoraipakkam early on Friday morning, before he was arrested by the railway police.
It is to be noted that this is not the first time that crimes like Sathya's murder have happened at the railway station in Chennai. Her death is starkly reminiscent of the 2016 murder of 24-year-old Swathi, an Infosys employee who was brutally hacked to death at the Nungambakkam Railway Station in Chennai. Again, only last year, Madras Christian College (MCC) student Swetha was stabbed and killed at the Tambaram Railway Station. In both cases, the women were killed by stalkers. In Swetha’s case, she had known the murderer Ramachandran for three years. In a chilling similarity to Sathya’s murder, Ramachandran had also gotten into an argument with Swetha, before he stabbed her in a fit of rage.