Chennai: In what is suspected to be a crime of passion involving a stalker, a 24-year-old woman software-professional was brutally murdered in full public view on the platform of the Nungambakkam suburban railway station minutes before her EMU arrived. The suburban was on time at 6.46 am and left a minute later, without her.
The deceased was identified as Swathi (24), who was living with her family in Jaag Flats, South Gangai Amman Koil I street. As usual, Swathi’s father Santhana Gopalakrishnan dropped her at the station at 6.40 am.
According to eyewitnesses, Swathi was waiting on Platform No 2 to take a Chennai Beach – Chengelpet EMU when a youth approached her and began talking to her. After a wordy altercation, the youth pulled out a sickle from his backpack and hacked Swathi who was waiting near a PCO booth, which at the time of the incident was yet to open for business.
