Chennai techie murder suspect: A portrait of an introvert

Most stories about Ramkumar end up referring to his reclusive nature. A few residents of Meenakshipuram say he was probably ‘friendless’.

P. Ramkumar, the suspect in the murder of Chennai techie S. Swathi.

For the rest of his neighbours in Meenakshipuram, nothing seemed out of place: P. Ramkumar was taking his goats out to graze, like he usually does when he is at home. Until the night of Friday, when cops swarmed the house, they had no clue that the loner they knew was suspected of hacking a young woman to death at Nungambakkam Railway Station.

Ramkumar is the son of Paramasivam, a daily wage earner with BSNL. His mother, Pushpam, is a agricultural worker and he has two sisters. After passing out in 2011 from a government school in the locality, he joined a course in mechanical engineering at Einstein College, Seethaparpanallur. He completed the course in 2015, but couldn’t get a job.

Ramkumar left for Chennai three months ago after telling his parents that he was planning to get coaching to clear five arrear papers and get a job. When he returned last week, he told them he had been ill and hadn’t been able to find a job.

Meenakshipuram was in the news in the 1980s when more than 60 per cent of its residents, all Dalits, embraced Islam, alleging discrimination by caste Hindus.

On Friday, the hamlet was abuzz with activity after the ‘invasion’ by the police and the media. “He has brought disrepute to us,” says Barakath, who runs a small shop at the end of Ambedkar Street on which Ramkumar’s house is also located.

Most stories about Ramkumar end up referring to his reclusive nature. A few residents of Meenakshipuram say he was probably ‘friendless’. Some of his classmates The Hindu tried to reach could not remember him, or refused to comment. “He never mingled with other children and was always aloof. He never took part in any cultural or sports programmes. This trait continued even in college,” says a faculty member. His relative Papa recalls he would take the goats out to graze during his college days and would be alone at home after returning from the forest.

True to character, he did not speak to anyone even at the A.S. Mansion he stayed in, in Chennai. “Many did not even know he stayed there. He used to go to his room through a small gate near the main entrance,” says a resident of the mansion.

“From Swathi’s friends, we learnt that she used to walk back from the railway station through 8 street, Sowrashtra Nagar, to reach her house. The suspect must have seen her then,” says a police source.