Killer, theories on a steady run

The Swathi murder case, that initially seemed to be one of passion, is becoming complicated with each passing day. Theories and speculations, fuelled by new CCTV footage being released on a daily basis on TV channels, have been giving a headache to the investigation teams.

‘Independent investigators’ are feeding rumour mills with enough and more stories regarding the accused as well as the victim based either on footage aired on visual media or by relying on their “sources.” Police are trying their level best to insulate themselves from all speculation and are carrying on with the probe. Police are stumped by the fact they are getting little or no information from one of their most dependable sources— members of the public. “There are so many speculations. We cannot investigate as per public speculation. We can confirm the motive only when we secure the accused. That we will do soon,” a senior investigation officer told DTNext. On Friday, many talked about a CCTV footage from Choolaimedu, which showed a grainy image of a youth wearing a helmet and backpack riding away on a two-wheeler at 6.51 am. The image is too blurred to decipher clearly, with only a vague resemblance to the earlier image of the purported murderer released to the media. The same camera had captured Swathi and her father on their two-wheeler proceeding to the station on the fateful day. However, a senior official said that they have not received any footage which showed the accused escaping on a two-wheeler.

Stalker story: Immediately after the murder, it was speculated that Swathi was murdered by a stalker. Swathi’s father who was reportedly heard crying out loud over her body at the Nungambakkam Railway station that he could only protect her only this far, pointed to a stalker. Then there had been speculations regarding the age, religion and caste of the stalker. Some even went to the extent of giving a name to the accused.

Boyfriend episode: When news about Swathi’s friendship with a boy from Triplicane became public, the rumour was that there was a possibility of the boy’s family being behind the crime. WhatsApp messages and Facebook posts were full of ‘stories’ of how an ‘innocent Brahmin girl’ was brutally massacred. While one group said he hailed from Bengaluru another group claimed the boy was from North India.

Modern girl label: According to this new theory, subscribers presume the murder was committed by an ex-boyfriend who was angry over Swathi’s lack of commitment. Speculators of this theory have imagined the statements of her colleagues and have attributed the tag that she was “‘too modern.” They also surmised that was proved by the fact that not many family members attended her funeral.

The family has denied the reports of Swathi being slapped by another man days before she was hacked to death. According to a statement by an eyewitness, a man slapped her continuously and she boarded the next train without uttering a word. Friends and family say that Swathi made no mention of such an incident to any of them. “These reports are not true. We knew of no such incident where she was attacked. The family knew nothing about it,” says Nithya, Swathi’s sister. The family is upset with the media for publishing reports without confirming with the family. “She never told us of any such assault at the railway station,” said another friend of Swathi.

An eye-witness account of what had happened to Infosys employee Swathi, about two weeks before her   murder at the Nungambakkam Railway station, has given a new twist to the entire case.

Though the case has been pursued mainly as a crime of passion, the revelations of Tamilarasu, a teacher at an educational institution at Vandalur, indicate there could be a more serious motive to the murder. Tamilarasu, who is a regular train passenger, had revealed that he had seen a youth slapping Swathi repeatedly at the station about two weeks ago and that the girl suffered in silence. He also went on record saying that person was not the suspected murderer.

In a statement to the police, Tamilarasu had said that the youth who slapped Swathi was of wheatish complexion and was aged around 30-35 years. He also told police that he could identify that person. “We have recorded his statement as an eye-witnesses. However, we need to verify his version. We have shown him several photographs but the identity of the one who slapped Swathi has not been established yetr,” a senior police official told DTNext. 

Police, however, have ruled out someone from Swathi’s family assaulting her. “Her family does not have a male of that age. We cannot summon all the relatives of Swathi’s Muslim friend and conduct an identification parade. First, we need to zero in on a list of suspects and then only we can conduct an identification parade,” the official added. If what Tamilarasu has told the police turns out to be true, then there is a chance of conspiracy in her murder.  Police are probing whether anyone had conspired to eliminate Swathi due to other relationship issues.