Chennai: The Swathi murder accused, P.Ramkumar killed himself on Sunday by biting a live wire in Puzhal jail where he was lodged. His death brought an abrupt end to the sensational case of the gruesome slaughter of the young techie on the Nungambakkam railway station platform on June 24.
“He was brought dead here. And his body was shifted to the morgue,” Royapettah Government hospital dean told this newspaper at around 6 pm on Sunday, confirming his death. The mechanical engineering graduate was 26.
Ramkumar had allegedly killed Swathi (24), working with Infosys in Mahindra City and residing in Choolaimedu in the city, while she waiting to catch a suburban train to go to work at around 6.40 am on June 24. Police said he was stalking her and she had rejected his proposal. He hacked her to death. Ramkumar had been staying in a lodge Choolaimedu looking for a job since March this year and had noticed Swathi and also followed her.
Puzhal jail sources on Sunday said Ramkumar was lodged in hospital block inside the prison complex. “Usually 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm is meal time for prisoners. And at the hospital block all the prisoners will be lodged in a dormitory kind of hall. They are allowed to walk around the hall and also in the verandah.
At around 4.45 pm he went near the loosely fitted electric switchboard on the verandah wall. He pulled off the front portion of the switchboard, grabbed the wires and bit them. He died on the spot due to electrocution,” sources noted.
Though some inmates rushed towards him with blankets and other things to rescue him, everything was over by the time they got near the electrocuted prisoner. “Slackness in supervision by warders on duty could be the reason for not preventing the suicide. But it looks like Ramkumar had planned this and was waiting for the right time,” a jail official added.
As his body was kept at the Royapettah GH morgue, his lawyer S. Ramaraj was prevented by the police from entering the premises to have a look at his client's body. The entire hospital premises were sealed by the cops.
