From DNA analysis of blood samples will emerge the crucial evidence to link the victim, weapon, and suspect in the Swathi murder case.
Investigators have sent samples of blood collected from the crime scene, weapon and the shirt of P. Ramkumar, the suspected assailant in the brutal murder, to the Tamil Nadu Forensic Science Laboratory for analysis, police sources said on Tuesday.
Besides accounts of eyewitnesses who claimed to have seen the suspect murdering techie Swathi in Nungambakkam railway station on June 24, police claimed to have gathered material, scientific and circumstantial evidence that pointed to the involvement of Ramkumar in the case. A police official who was part of the team that examined Ramkumar in police custody said the suspect had admitted to his involvement in the crime. However, he claimed that his intention was not to murder Swathi but only assault her. On the day of the murder, Ramkumar came to the Nungambakkam railway station at 6 a.m. with the weapon but returned after changing his mind. He came back half-an-hour later and attacked Swathi killing her on the spot.
“Ramkumar claimed that he came to know of Swathi’s death only in the evening. After escaping from the scene, he went to the mansion and slept. After lunch, he got to the terrace of the building and saw a newspaper report on the murder…he thought she would have been hospitalised. Soon after knowing that Swathi died, he rushed to Koyambedu bus stand and took a bus to his native place,” the official said.
Swathi’s mobile phone that was seized from the suspect at the time of his arrest in Meenakshipuram has been sent to cyber crime experts to check if any data was erased. “All through the week after the murder, he kept Swathi’s mobile in his pocket. He closely watched news in television channels and took clippings from newspapers on the progress made by police in the case.”
Investigation was on to ascertain whether Ramkumar sent a friend request to Swathi on Facebook, the official added.
