The alleged suicide of P. Ramkumar, the lone suspect in the Swathi murder case, in the Puzhal central prison-II here has raised several questions. Many wonder how he got access to a live electric wire and whether the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) guidelines on the ‘Prevention of suicide in prison’ was adhered to in the Puzhal prison complex that houses hundreds of inmates, including foreign nationals, women and some hardcore terror suspects.
Prison authorities claimed that Ramkumar grabbed the live wire from a switchboard and bit into it. However, there was no eyewitness to this incident and people rushed to his rescue only after hearing an “unusual sound”. Some of the questions being asked are: How did the prisoner manage to access the switchboard and pull out a live wire? When did the Jail Warder switch off the main power after noticing Ramkumar unconscious or struggling? What was the time taken by the ambulance to reach the prison complex and then to the Government Royapettah Hospital?
Going by the NHRC guidelines, a comprehensive suicide prevention programme should have been rolled out in the Puzhal prison by roping in experts and imparting training to staff on emergency response in cases such as this.
Periodic mock drills should have been conducted to sensitise the staff and reduce the reaction time in assessing and providing professional assistance. Prison officials should have been trained to identify inmates with signs of suicidal tendencies and rate them according to the level of their problems. It is unclear if these guidelines were being followed.
Safety audit
Good Samaritans among jail inmates could be engaged to keep an eye on prisoners and alert the staff to pre-empt suicides. More importantly, the NHRC recommended that a thorough audit of the jail premises be conducted to find out the probable places/areas and items that are prone to be used for committing suicide.
Challenging case
The murder of Swathi was a challenging case for the Chennai Police who had no clue of the murderer even after a week. It was only after some persons in the mansion in Choolaimedu where Ramkumar stayed identified the man on the CCTV footage that police got their first concrete clue.
Ramkumar, a native of Meenakshipuram near Tenkasi in Tirunelveli district, came to Chennai in search of job and stayed in the mansion. It was alleged that he reportedly stalked Swathi, who lived in the same area. Eyewitnesses in the case recalled having seen him follow the victim to the Paranur railway station, close to her workplace.
On June 24, Swathi was hacked to death in the Nungambakkam railway station and police eventually claimed that it was Ramkumar who killed her.
Though investigators claimed that CCTV footage showed the suspect escaping from the scene of crime and further investigation led to the recovery of his blood-stained clothes and the mobile phone of the victim from his possession, Ramkumar’s family and some human rights activists claimed that he was not involved in the murder and there was more to the case than meets the eye.The Chennai police were in the final stages of completing the investigation and filing a charge sheet in the case.
