A couple of inexpensive mobile phones and a few wads of currency were all they got. But that didn’t stop a group of youths from stabbing a 41-year-old man to death at the Tambaram railway station on January 31. On Friday, a week after the victim, K. Loganathan succumbed to his injuries, three young men, all in their twenties, were arrested and sent to Puzhal prison.
According to the police, Thameem Ansari (22), prime accused in the case, had completed an earlier stint at Puzhal prison just a couple of months ago. He had paired up with two others – S. Gopi (27) and A. Siva (23), for petty offences, including robbing commuters travelling on suburban trains on the Chennai Beach-Tambaram sector late in the evening.
Loganathan, a resident of Lakshmi Nagar in Chitlapakkam, was stabbed in the back near platform 2 while he was crossing the railway lines around 11 p.m. on January 31. He succumbed to injuries the next day. It turns out that initial reports of Loganathan having drawn his salary from an ATM that night were false. All that Loganathan had in his possession was Rs. 350 in his wallet and a couple of mobile phones.
Thameem Ansari overpowered Loganathan and asked his accomplices Gopi and Siva to frisk him for valuables. “Loganathan protested, and to silence him, Siva pulled out a kitchen knife and stabbed him in the back. The knife punctured his kidney, causing profuse bleeding,” said A. Kayalvizhi, superintendent of police, railways, at a press conference.
The assailants took his phones and wallet and then walked across to platform 1 from where they boarded a train towards Chennai Beach, she said.
Investigating officers told The Hindu that after the assault, the victim called out for help and crawled towards the platform, where he fell unconscious. A Southern Railway junior engineer at the control room heard Loganathan’s cries and rushed him to hospital.
After ruling out enmity either at workplace or on the personal front, the police picked up more than 30 men on suspicion. Investigations finally led police to Thameem Ansari. He had earlier been arrested under the Goondas Act for his involvement in a number of crimes in Tambaram and Pallavaram, apart from a few offences on trains.
When it was learnt that Thameen Ansari had shifted homes from Pallavaram to Perungalathur, their suspicions intensified and police began to monitor his movements. On Friday morning, they zeroed-in on him along with his accomplices, who had confessed to the police about their involvement in Loganathan’s murder, investigators said.
A case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code was registered. The three were produced before a magistrate and sent to Puzhal prison later in the day. Police said the men had thrown away the victim’s wallet after taking Rs. 350 from it and had sold his mobile phones for Rs. 2,000.
