'My Daughter Was Lying in a Pool of Blood; No One Came to Her Rescue'

Chennai: The woman Infosys employee Swathi, who was hacked to death on June 24 in Chennai, complained about a youth who used to stalk her every day.

The significant input, which may help the local police to crack the case soon, was shared by victim’s father K Gopalakrishnan on Monday.

He said, "On May 10, my daughter complained about a man who used to follow her. She also alerted the local shopkeepers about the stalker. We were concerned and used to drop and receive her (around 7.30 pm) from the railway station."

"It is very unfortunate no one came forward to help my daughter. She was lying in a pool of blood for more than 2 hours and no one turned up. Even the policemen reached the spot late. It was shocking for me and raises questions about the security of other woman commuters," he added.

Swathi was hacked to death at Nungambakkam railway station. Around 6 am her father dropped her at the railway station and left. A man approached Swathi and they were heard arguing with each other over some issue. He suddenly pulled out a chopper and hacked her to death in front of other commuters and walked away unchallenged.

Meanwhile, with no breakthrough even after 72 hours of the murder, the Madras High Court took a suo moto cognisance of the case and asked the Tamil Nadu government for a report at the earliest.

The court has asked the Public Prosecutor (PP) S Shanmuga Velayutham to inform it about the current status of the case. The PP was also asked to clarify on a media report alleging lack of coordination between Railway Police and local police on the probe into the murder case.

Taking serious view of the report, a division bench comprising justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathi Dasan asked the PP to verify from the authorities concerned whether there was non-coordination between departments and give his clarification on the matter by 3 pm.

If it was found that there was non-coordination, court will have to suo motu monitor the case, the judge said.

The case was later transferred to a special team of the city police.