Two witnesses - Swathi's father and a bookseller on the Nungambakkam railway platform -- have identified Ramkumar as the stalker and assailant 11 days after he had been arrested in an identification parade, according to reports.
Identification parade:
According to Selvaraj from the Times of India, an identification parade was conducted in Puzhal prison on Tuesday morning. Swathi's father Santhana Goplakrishnan was first called in to identify the man who had stalked his daughter, from the ten men who stood in a line.
Over 20 witnesses, including those who were at the station the time when she Swathi was murdered were also taken to the jail to for taking part in the identification parade.
Gopalakrishnan identified the man standing fourth from the left, wearing a maroon colour shirt and black trousers, as the stalker his daughter had once apparently shown him. It was Ramkumar.
Police said they included Gopalakrishnan as a witness as he had, during interrogation, said his daughter once showed him her stalker. Sivakumar, a bookseller at the railway station, was called in as the other witness. The bookshop on the railway platform was right where Swathi was hacked. The husband and wife who run the book shop man it at different shifts. On June 24, husband was on morning shift. He too identified as the assailant.
What is an identification parade?
An identification parade is when witnesses are brought in to the prison where the accused is lodged, and made to identify the assailant.
Parades and what court had said:
In March this year, the Madras high court had pulled up both media and the police for publishing and circulating photographs of the accused in another case.
If photographs of the accused were published, it will affect identification parade and ultimately, trial will also be affected. The court expressed worry that the person called in for identification may remember the face of accused from pictures on media.
Despite the circular by the DGP instructing the police not to circulate photos, Ramkumar's photos were published widely. Videos of him after slashing his neck, lying on the hospital bed etc were widely circulated.