Even as cyber crime experts shortlisted about 150 suspicious mobile phone numbers that were active in the towers covering the Nungambakkam railway station premises where techie S. Swathi was hacked to death on June 24, a couple of her friends told the investigators that she was aware that she was being stalked by the suspect, who finally killed her.
Though police have so far got no clue of the assailant, they are putting together a few inputs that could possibly establish a motive for the murder. Swathi knew that the suspect was stalking her on suburban trains to her workplace. Days ahead of the murder, a friend claimed to have seen the suspect following Swathi at the Paranur railway station, police sources said.
“Swathi was aware of the stalker but probably decided to ignore him and took no precautions. Since she informed her friends about the suspect, it is possible that she might have alerted her family as well. We are not sure whether the suspect stalked her to say something or it was a dry run to commit the offence,” a senior police officer said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, an engineer friend of Swathi was examined on Wednesday. He reportedly told the investigators that he met her at a course in Anna University a couple of years ago and was in touch for sometime. “He has shared some details about his friendship with Swathi. We are in the process of examining a few others. A clear picture has not emerged yet why someone would go the extent of killing her,” the officer said.
Asked how far the police could track the suspect fleeing from the scene of crime, another officer, who is a part of the investigation team said the suspect rushed towards Choolaimedu High Road and there was no trace of him after that. “We have analysed footage as recorded at Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore and Koyambedu bus terminus on Friday to check whether he took a train or bus. Nothing much has come out of it yet.”
Dismissing reports that the suspect was chased by a man soon after he killed Swathi, the officer said nobody made an attempt to chase or track his movements. “It is intriguing that even after five days nobody has made a call yet identifying the suspect. Maybe he has remained disconnected from social life or belongs to some other State,” he said.
A senior police officer released an enhanced picture of the suspect. “We have sent it to a lab in Hyderabad again for improving the quality.”
